Chewing the cud: Rumination can lead to ruination …

Chewing the cud can ruin your life.

Huh?

“Chewing the cud” is a phrase used to refer to rumination, the act of turning thoughts over and over … and over and over … and over again and again in our minds. Meg Butcher explains rumination like this:

“Rumination is ‘the act of pondering or musing on something; the act or process of chewing the cud, as cows, deer, and some other animals do.’ Animals with multiple stomachs literally return pieces of food to their mouths to re-chew a second time. To ‘chew the cud’ means to rethink something. ‘In a sense,’ William Hwang Psy.D. explains,’when we are going over past events in our minds, again and again, we are behaving like our fellow “ruminants” in the animal world.'”

Many people are “ruminants,” routinely exercising a habit of rumination, with negative consequences. That’s because we usually don’t ruminate on good or positive things like we do with our negative thoughts — our worries. One unidentified writer noted this about negative, or worrisome, rumination:

“Worry is fear’s extravagance. It extracts interest on trouble before it comes due. It constantly drains the energy God gives us to face daily problems and to fulfill our many responsibilities. It is therefore a sinful waste. A woman who had lived long enough to have learned some important truths about life remarked, ‘I’ve had a lot of trouble — most of which never happened!’ She had worried about many things that had never occurred, and had come to see the total futility of her anxieties.”

Counselors and therapists advise their clients to avoid rumination, and help them learn how to overcome it. That’s because rumination can literally lead to ruination. A basic truth about human behavior is that our thoughts create our emotions, and the combination of our thoughts and emotions create our behavior. What we think about creates emotions parallel to what we’re thinking; ruminating on negative or irrational thoughts can only generate negative or irrational emotions, and the combination can forge only negative or irrational behavior. Do that long enough and rumination can lead to ruination — severe clinical depression, anxiety, and even physical illness.

“Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up,” Proverbs 12:25.

It’s no wonder, then, the Bible has plenty to say about rumination, not necessarily using that term but addressing the act. The message is, don’t do it — don’t worry. Change the way you think, and what you think. Notice in the teaching of Jesus below His emphasis on not engaging in negative rumination:

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life — whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today,” Matthew 6:25-34.

Rumination can be so habitual in the lives of some people it can be a challenge for some to overcome, as David Mackenzie illustrates with his story:

“To act out the principle of turning prayers over to God, we took a paper bag, wrote ‘God’ on it, and taped it up high on the back of our kitchen door. As I prayed about matters such as my career, my role as a father, my abilities to be a good husband, I would write down each concern on a piece of paper. Then those pieces of paper would go in the bag. The rule was that if you start worrying about a matter of prayer that you’ve turned over to God, you have to climb up on a chair and fish it out of the bag. I don’t want to admit how much time I spent sifting through those scraps of paper.”

With the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, the support of family, friends, and fellow Christians, and perhaps the assistance of a competent counselor, you CAN learn to change your thinking and, instead of ruminating negatively, learn to “fix your thoughts” to more rational and beneficial thinking:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise,” Philippians 4:6-8.

Scotty