“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” — Romans 12:2
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the word renewing.
Renewing is present tense. It isn’t something we did yesterday or something we will eventually do tomorrow. It is something we are called to practice now.
To renew means to make new again—to restore, refresh, revive, and bring something back to life.
And I think that matters because our minds can become tired places.
Life happens. Disappointments happen. Hormones change. Responsibilities pile up. We get older. We get tired. We become more aware of the world around us. And if we aren’t careful, cynicism can become wisdom, frustration can become our personality, and being “grumpy” can simply become who we are.
It can happen so gradually that we don’t even notice it.
We start saying, “That’s just how I am now.”
But what if it doesn’t have to be?
What if God is still inviting us to be transformed?
We Have to Be Present to Renew
You can’t renew what you’re not paying attention to.
The mind is constantly taking in information from our environment. Neuroscience tells us that the brain is shaped by what we repeatedly focus on, think about, and practice.
Spiritually, Scripture has been telling us this all along.
What we continually allow into our minds matters.
What we rehearse matters.
What we dwell on matters.
What we say matters.
And what we repeatedly think about can eventually become what we believe.
That’s why renewing our minds requires awareness.
We have to notice when our thoughts are becoming negative.
We have to notice when we’re expecting the worst.
We have to notice when gratitude is being replaced by entitlement.
We have to notice when we’re more critical than compassionate.
And sometimes, we simply have to recognize:
I’m becoming a little grumpy.
Not because we’re bad people.
Because we’re human.
Age, exhaustion, hormones, disappointment, stress, and life experience can all make it incredibly easy to slip into a more cynical or negative mindset.
But awareness gives us a choice.
We don’t have to stay there.
Peace Is a Gift—But Protecting Your Peace Is Stewardship
This quote above was shared with me a while ago, and I have never forgotten it! And I stand behind it!
Isaiah 26:3 says:
“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
I love the connection between the mind and peace.
Peace is a gift from God, but I also believe protecting our peace is a form of stewardship.
We have to be careful about what we allow to occupy our minds.
Not every thought deserves our attention.
Not every offense deserves a response.
Not every inconvenience deserves our frustration.
Not every negative thing we hear needs to become something we carry.
Sometimes protecting your peace looks like praying instead of reacting.
Sometimes it looks like gratitude instead of complaining.
Sometimes it looks like taking a breath before answering.
Sometimes it looks like choosing not to participate in negativity.
And sometimes it simply looks like saying:
“Lord, help me see this differently.”
Train Your Mind Toward What Is Good
The notes I wrote reminded me of something else: our brains have a tendency to notice what we repeatedly teach them to notice.
That means we can practice negativity.
But thankfully, we can also practice gratitude.
We can practice joy.
We can practice noticing beauty.
We can practice looking for God’s goodness.
We can practice peace.
Many positive and peaceful moments go unnoticed simply because we haven’t trained ourselves to recognize them as important.
So what if we started looking for them?
The coffee that was exactly what you needed.
The unexpected text from a friend.
Your child’s laugh from the other room.
A beautiful sunset.
A quiet morning.
A prayer that was answered.
A moment when you chose patience instead of irritation.
A day when nothing particularly amazing happened—but everything was simply okay.
Those moments count.
Every small act of gratitude, prayer, acknowledgment, and positivity helps train our minds toward joy and thankfulness.
Renewal Is a Practice
Maybe renewing your mind doesn’t always feel like some huge spiritual transformation.
Maybe sometimes it is very ordinary.
It’s choosing gratitude when you could complain.
It’s choosing patience when you’re irritated.
It’s choosing curiosity instead of criticism.
It’s choosing prayer instead of worry.
It’s choosing kindness when you’re tired.
It’s choosing to believe the best instead of assuming the worst.
It’s catching yourself in a negative thought and saying,
“That’s not where I’m going to stay.”
And perhaps this becomes even more important as we get older.
Because age gives us experience—but experience can either produce wisdom or cynicism.
We can become people who say, “I’ve seen this before. I know how this ends.”
Or we can become people who say,
“I’ve seen enough to know that God can still surprise me.”
We can become hardened by what we’ve experienced, or we can become deeper, softer, wiser, and more grounded.
The choice is often in what we allow our minds to rehearse.
“Lord, Help Me Be Diligent in This”
Proverbs 13:4 reminds us that the diligent are richly supplied.
I wrote in my notes:
“Lord, help me to be diligent in this.”
That feels like the prayer.
Because renewing our minds isn’t a one-time decision.
It is daily work.
Daily awareness.
Daily surrender.
Daily choosing.
And maybe today, the invitation is simply to notice what has been happening inside your mind.
What have you been rehearsing?
What have you been expecting?
What have you been complaining about?
Where have you become cynical?
Where have you allowed age, hormones, exhaustion, or disappointment to make you a little more “grumpy” than you want to be?
And then, without shame, bring it to God.
Because the goal isn’t to pretend we’re always positive.
The goal is to become more intentional about what we allow to shape us.
To let God renew what has become tired.
To soften what has become hard.
To bring peace where there has been anxiety.
To restore gratitude where there has been complaining.
To replace cynicism with hope.
And to remind ourselves that we are not stuck being the person we have slowly become.
We can be renewed.
Today.
Again.
And again.
And again.
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” — Romans 12:2
Maybe renewal isn’t something we wait for.
Maybe renewal is something we practice.
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