Davidisms - You Can't Stop Birds from Flying Over Your Head

This one is from my mom. She said it repeatedly. You can’t stop birds from flying over your head - but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair! What does this mean? You can’t control what people say or do, or keep bad things from happening to you. Or the evil one from tempting your soul. Or sinful thoughts from entering your mind. All these things are going to happen to us all. But here is what you can do. You can keep the angry or tempting thoughts from laying a nest in your head. From becoming a thought you dwell on. From building a home in your head where they grow and fester. My wise mom also said it this way: “Nip it in the bud!” She was teaching me to stop bad thinking before it starts. To choose to usher the angry, lustful or dangerous thoughts out of mind immediately. The moment they enter. To put a no vacancy sign up in my brain: Bad thoughts are not welcome here! When you do so, those negative thoughts no longer have power over you. You’ve stopped them in their tracks - they didn’t have time to do any damage. And they never will.