Get Your Claws Out of My Head!

A couple of days ago, Jorjanne found something on our cat’s
head.  She tried to get it off, but
couldn’t. We decided that it must be dead skin. 
A few days later, Jeff pulled the mysterious “thing” out to discover
that another cat’s claw had been embedded in Darth Vader’s head.  Ouch! 
A constant reminder of his last fight.

As I’ve thought about the cat’s claw lodged in Darth Vader’s
skull, I wondered how many times I’ve let parts of past “fights” stick in my
head.  Why is it that we forget the
positive statements, but let negative statements get embedded in our memory,
constantly nagging us, reminding us of the stinging pain felt by someone else’s
words. 

Just this week, I had a confrontation with another person,
and I bet I’ve replayed that conversation in my head a million times.  The crazy thing is that I’ve had multiple
encouraging conversations, but do I revisit them – rarely!  Why is it that we do this to ourselves?

I am trying to “take every thought captive,” so that I don’t
let someone’s “claws” get stuck in my mind. 
The scripture commands us to focus on “whatever is pure, whatever is
admirable, noble, and praiseworthy.”  May
we learn to let God renew our minds and eradicate negative, self-defeating
thoughts and replace them with more positive ones?