Mental Health for the Christian: the Case for Muttering

I'm hoping the title of this blog catches your attention and makes you curious. What in the world is muttering? How might muttering be a skill Christians can use when dealing with mental illness? Read on...

I was recently struck with the following verse: "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:8) Notice that God does not say, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mind..." but rather, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth..." At first blush, this might simply be referring to how believers in Joshua's day needed to carry the the Law with them, since no one had a handy pocket version of the Pentateuch tucked away in their robes. But I think it is more than that.

The Hebrew verb translated as "meditate" in this verse can also mean "to mutter." This helps to explain how Joshua's "meditation" was to be with his mouth. He was to "mutter on it day and night."

This brings up the subject of what is called "block memorization." This is an important skill if one wants to meditate on "the Book" day and night. The Word has to be memorized before one can "mutter it." By block memorization, I am referring to the memorization of significant blocks of Scripture. I know, memorizing Scripture is not easy for me either. But if I can do it, so can you. So pick a passage that is meaningful to you, put it on a note card, and keep reading and rehearsing it. By rehearsing, I mean vocalizing it or muttering it. And as you do, meditate on it with your mind.

In previous blogs, I have praised the value of what I call "mind-full-ness." In contrast with mindfulness, where one tries to empty the mind of harmful thoughts during meditation, Christian mind-full-ness, to the contrary, is seeking to replace harmful thoughts with good thoughts. A mind full or good thoughts has no room for those bad ones. One way to do this is to meditate on passages put to memory, and to "mutter" these truths as a way of focusing on them and filling the mind with them.

This muttering can be done virtually anywhere. When I walk the neighborhood, I mutter. When I walk in the gym, I mutter. (I put my wireless ear pieces in. Folks seeing or hearing me mutter just think I am talking with someone on the phone.) Even in the airport, I walk the length of the terminal muttering.

So let me highly recommend the practice of Christian meditation/muttering. Look what God promised Joshua, "For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." That's what we all want--success as we do life with our mental health challenges. Here's wishing you good success!

Blessings,

The Christian Bipole