While visiting eleven waterfalls in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, my husband and I wondered about their origins. Did they begin as a tiny trickle? Did the heavy rains and gravity turn them into raging rapids?

Mike suggested a spiritual parallel. Can’t this metaphor express what happens with worries and self-defeating thoughts? When we give these anxious ponderings more water and allow them run their course, before we know it, we become ensnared in a torrent of downward spiraling thoughts.

In contrast, what begins as a trickle by setting our minds on God’s character and eternal things can gain momentum into a waterfall of hope and joy.  Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

 Small beginnings can have powerful outcomes. God allows us to direct the course of our thought life by choosing to whether to magnify our anxiety or Him.