Ernest Smith

Have you ever heard of a swing thought?  …yeah, you read that right, a swing thought.

I had never heard of a swing thought until 9 months ago.  I was sitting in a group with a bunch of guys who are wiser than myself and we were talking about pursuing God on a daily basis.  I was sharing my struggles with how I don’t always see the goodness of God, but rather my faults and sins.

One of the guys said to me, “you need to get a swing thought.”  I thought, “that’s great, but I have no clue what that is.”  He proceeded to describe what a swing thought was and how it related to golf.  He told me that a swing thought is the last thought that goes through your mind before you swing the club, driving the ball down the fairway.  The goal should be to have a swing thought that would keep you focused, ultimately helping you hit a better shot.

When he told me that, I immediately knew that issue with my golf game.  I am not a bad golfer, I just need a good swing thought. 🙂 If you have ever been golfing with me, rather golf ball fetching, then you know there is much more wrong with my game than just a swing thought.

However, this concept intrigued me and I began to think about my swing thought in life.

Many times my swing thought in life is much like my swing thought in golf.  “Is this gonna be any good?”  “This is not going to be good.”  “I’m not very good.”   These are all swing thoughts that I have before I approach any shot in gold, and many times these are the types of swing thoughts that go through my head, whether it is in the morning, before a big project or event, or before speaking in front of people.  My natural tendency is to look at the negative inside of me and dwell on that.

What I have come to learn over the years is that looking at the negative inside of me is not all that bad.  If I am blind to my challenges and my sins, then I will find it difficult to be in a place where I can experience God or be used by Him.   However, if my thoughts dwell on the negative of me, then I am missing out on the beauty of God.

Many times I am like the person who stands on the beach looking westward wondering if the darkness will ever go away, while completely missing the sun rising right behind me.  If I dwell on the negative, then I miss the beauty and wonder of who God is and what He has for me.

So for the last 9 months, I have attempted to wake up every day with a swing thought.

“God, you are good.”

“God thank you for your loving kindness.”

“God thank you for choosing me.”

“God thank you for choosing to give me life today.”

“God thank you for your salvation.”

“God, you are sovereign.”

These are just some of the swing thoughts I have had over the last 9 months, many of which I had every day for weeks.  These thoughts helped me to be more focused, that day, on worshipping God and serving Him and less focused on me and my needs or issues.

Try it!  Try starting right now with a swing thought.  Let it be something about God’s character that you are thankful for.  Maybe it is his righteousness, his grace, his power, his healing ability, his sovereignty, his love, his goodness.

I pray that this idea of a swing thought encourages you to remember that we all struggle with negative thoughts from time to time, however, when we focus on God, we begin to live out Philippians 4:8, which states, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”