Thinking celestial is “being spiritually minded”. We are told this by President Nelson in his talk Think Celestial. So what is being spiritually minded? How do we think celestial in our day to day lives?
The place my mind went when told to think celestial was to think like Christ. In Isaiah 55:8-9 we are told, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So how do we think like Christ thinks? I spent considerable time searching to see what I could find to answer this question. To my frustration, I realized that there is a great deal written on thinking about Christ and very little on thinking like Christ.
In his talk, President Nelson says that, “thinking celestial is being spiritually minded.” Does this mean that we think of little else but spiritual matters? How do you deal with worldly things if you are spiritually minded? I began to understand the life that monks and nuns lived. Their ability to focus solely on the spiritual and leave the world behind.
Sadly, we have neither monks nor nuns. We must figure out how to both be spiritually minded and live in the world. I don’t know about you, but paying my bills doesn’t feel very spiritual to me. I could list any number of other things that I struggle to see any mote of spirituality in that I do on a daily basis.
So, to back track for a minute, as I posed several questions I would like to try to answer. To begin, what is being spiritually minded? In Romans 8:6, it says that “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” In his talk “To Be Spiritually Minded is Life and Peace”, Elder Teixeira talks about several things that indicate you are spiritually minded. They include, “living a life worthy of the Holy Ghost’s gentle persuasions”, being in harmony with Heavenly Father and making that harmony a priority in our life, and loving God.
President Oaks teaches us that being spiritually minded is about perspective. “We view our experiences in terms of eternity. As we draw farther from worldliness, we feel closer to our Father in Heaven and more able to be guided by his Spirit…. How we interpret our experiences is also a function of our degree of spirituality…we should interpret our experiences in terms of our knowledge of the purpose of life, the mission of our Savior, and the eternal destiny of the children of God.”
So being spiritually minded is how we see things, in what terms we frame our experiences, as well as living worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost by drawing closer to our Heavenly Father and loving him. I would go further and say that it is also recognizing the tender mercies and miracles that occur in our lives.
The next three questions are all related:
How do we think celestial in our day to day lives?
The answer here goes back to perspective and how we look at the things we deal with and do each day. Another way to do this is mentioned by President Nelson in his talk “Think Celestial”, it is to “begin with the end in mind.” What is the end result we are looking for? Is what we are doing moving us toward that? With the end in mind it makes it somewhat easier to manage the present.
Does this mean that we think of little else but spiritual matters?
The short answer is no. The long answer is that all things are spiritual. The how is found in both how we frame the things we think about and do and in controlling where our thoughts go.
How we frame things goes to how we think about them. I can think about doing dishes as a daily menial task or I can frame it as a way to serve my family and care for them. I can frame a challenge or a trial as a burden and a hardship (and some truly feel that way sometimes) or I can ask what I need to learn and how I can grow from this.
Admittedly there are times that this is much easier to do than others. When you feel like you are in the midst of a storm in your life it is much harder to do. It takes more conscious effort to both stay close to the Savior and work to see what you are going through as a way to grow and learn.
The other part is learning to control our thoughts. We need to learn to direct our thoughts instead of simply allowing them to direct us. In some ways it is comparable to whether you want a winding river that goes where it wants or directed irrigation for the garden that you have planted.
Now I love nature. I love a winding river. However when it comes to my thoughts I need irrigation and not a river. My thoughts dictate my actions and in turn become who I am. So control over what I think and how I think is vital. My thoughts can determine whether I have a good or bad day. They determine my attitude in the face of setbacks and challenges. All are dependent at their root by what I think and how I look at them.
Controlling my thoughts is in large part dependent on what I am feeding them. What am I listening to? What am I reading? What am I watching? Who am I talking to? Whose advice do I listen to? All feed the direction and framework of my thoughts. The simple (notice I did not say easy) solution is to change what you are feeding your thoughts if you want to change what you think.
This is why we are always told to go back to the basic answers of daily prayer, scripture study,and listening to good music get repeated so often.
When we feed our mind we also feed our spirit. The two are so interconnected that you cannot do one without the other. I struggle with both anxiety and depression. In the morning if I put church music on it directs my thoughts upward and the day is filled with light instead of darkness. The closer I draw to my Savior in a day, by music, prayer, scripture study, and writing the things that are brought to my mind, the more light fills my day and my mind.
If you want to change or control your thoughts, look at what you are feeding them.
How do you deal with worldly things if you are spiritually minded?
We live in a mortal, imperfect world. Our spirits can yearn for our Heavenly home and recognize the love our Heavenly Parents have for us, yet our mortal bodies still need to be fed and nourished. The daily tasks of life still need to be attended to. Bills still need to be paid and dishes still need to be done. This is the struggle with the natural man and being spiritually minded. The push and pull between the two that defines our lives through the choices we make in that struggle.
How we frame what we do determines on which side of that struggle we land on. Life is hard. Sometimes it is repetitive. Not all of it is uplifting and inspiring. How we look at it will matter a great deal. Looking for the glimmers of light that shine through the clouds, or for the tender mercies from the Lord can make a very big difference in our struggle.
So how do we think like Christ thinks? Can we?
We can strive to be like Him. We can learn of Him and develop a personal relationship with Him. We cannot be exactly like Him in this mortal world but we can come close.We can do our best to follow Him, love Him, and be His disciple. However I think that perhaps thinking as Christ thinks comes only after we cross the veil and return home. That comes in eternity with perfection.
I believe this is why we are taught so much to think of Jesus Christ. To learn about Him. To develop a personal relationship with Him. These are the things we can do in mortality. The things that are attainable to us now.
President Nelson states, “However, your choices today will determine three things: where you will live throughout eternity, the kind of body with which you will be resurrected, and those with whom you will live forever.
Being as our thoughts determine our actions lets break down how we have the ability to choose each of these.
Where You Will Live Throughout Eternity
This goes back to beginning with the end in mind. Where do you want to end up? Do you want to return to live with your Heavenly Parents and your Savior Jesus Christ? That is a different place from being content to live in this world. It calls for living by a different standard than the world would have us live by. The thoughts and actions we choose will drive whether we are headed in that direction or not.
Learning the gospel of Jesus Christ, making covenants with Him, Striving to live how He would have us live. All will help us return to Him when our journey in mortality is done. So begin with the end in mind.
The Kind of Body With Which You Will Be Resurrected
This one gave me pause and made me look at how I treat my body more closely. I have no desire to have a model’s body but I do want to be healthier and have my body work in the way it was meant to.
We are told that our bodies are temples to our spirits in the same way that the temples are homes to the Lord on earth. So how are you taking care of your temple? I know I need improvement. I know the things I need to be doing. I also know that changing habits is hard. It is worth the effort in caring for our bodies.
We are built to move, to eat what is good for our body, to work, to love, to bear the burdens we have. All of which entail taking care of our body. Are we learning on a daily basis? This exercises our mind and keeps it healthy. Are we exercising or moving daily? This keeps our muscles growing, our bones strong, our metabolism working, our emotions well regulated and so many other things. If you look up the benefits of exercise you might be surprised by all that it does for you.
Are you eating healthy? I am not talking about any particular diet. I simply mean good natural foods that nourish and fuel your body. The more you learn what nutrients your body needs and how to get them, the more your body will thrive. We have so many choices today, and so much of it is convenient but not good for us.
The choices we make in what we eat, whether we are moving, taking the time to learn will all impact what kind of body we are choosing to have. There is a great deal that is within our control to change. Having said that I fully recognize that there are things that are outside of the control of some through no choice of their own. Even with that there will be choices you can make and things that you can control. Look at where you are. Look at what you can choose to change. Look at what you want and how you can work towards accomplishing that. Then work towards that.
Those With Whom You Will Be With For Eternity
This goes back to relationships. What relationships do we choose to forge in this life? Eternity is meant to be spent with family. Family however is a choice. It is a connection and a relationship that is treated as treasured. That is nourished by love, concern, compassion, and honesty. Family is not necessarily simply those we are related to. It can be if both sides choose to make it so. Simply being related is not enough to make you family though. That involves not only choice but heart and actions.
The relationships we choose. The families we create are who we can be with for eternity. The temple sealing is a way to further this. It seals us both here and for eternity. It is then up to us to create the relationship that will last through eternity. It is our choices in how we treat each other, what we say that determine whether we forge a relationship that lasts through eternity or not. We create families from the people we choose to love that also choose to love us.
In short, there’s a lot that one has to consider when thinking about how to think celestially. It’s not an easy task, but the simple truth is that it boils down to how we can change and broaden our perspective. We are already most of the way there. We know that we are the children of a Heavenly Family, who have placed us in a world of their creation to become more like them. The first step, I think, is realizing how deeply that runs to all aspects of our life. When we realize that, it will become that much easier to reach the goals that our Heavenly Parents have set for us and the ones we choose to set for ourselves.
