Idée fixe

idée fixe \ee-day-FEEKS\ noun

Meaning: an idea that dominates one's mind especially for a prolonged period : obsession

Example Sentence: The fear that he was going to be fired became such an idée fixe for Toby that he could think of nothing else.

Sometimes we get fixed on an idea or pattern that shapes our behavior in ways that seem irrational to others. The town's junior high school was about a mile away from my house as a teen. As we walked to school, I remember counting off steps between cracks in the sidewalk. Anyone looking at my gait would have wondered at the occasionally erratic pace, the jerk of walking “out of step” to keep a steady beat to the music and shapes in my head. It became a reflex after a while.

In college, the internal music was so insistent that I would wake at night or in the morning to find myself “conducting” a beat with my feet. Sometimes the songs would surface in my consciousness; sometimes musical friends would notice that I was beating time and ask what I was hearing. The flow was nearly always worship, and I was surprised that not every Christian had compositions constantly running through their head. That for others, every day wasn't filled with melodies and words of praise and adoration streaming in endless improvisation. I was in motion from the time I was a little kid, but trained myself during the college day to move my feet rather than my whole body when the rhythm became intense.

Today, I want to hear the beat of the Spirit drum and walk to the pace of God’s heartbeat for the world. Even if that sometimes seems out of step to onlookers who can't hear it.

Read more:
*For the LORD delights in his people; he crowns the humble with victory. Let the faithful rejoice that he honors them. Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds. Psalm 149:4–5 NIV

*One day Elisha went to the town of Shunem. A wealthy woman lived there, and she urged him to come to her home for a meal. After that, whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for something to eat. She said to her husband, "I am sure this man who stops in from time to time is a holy man of God. Let's build a small room for him on the roof and furnish it with a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp. Then he will have a place to stay whenever he comes by."

One day Elisha returned to Shunem, and he went up to this upper room to rest. He said to his servant Gehazi, "Tell the woman from Shunem I want to speak to her." When she appeared, Elisha said to Gehazi, "Tell her, 'We appreciate the kind concern you have shown us. What can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?' "

"No," she replied, "my family takes good care of me."

Later Elisha asked Gehazi, "What can we do for her?"

Gehazi replied, "She doesn't have a son, and her husband is an old man."

"Call her back again," Elisha told him. When the woman returned, Elisha said to her as she stood in the doorway, "Next year at this time you will be holding a son in your arms!"

"No, my lord!" she cried. "O man of God, don't deceive me and get my hopes up like that." But sure enough, the woman soon became pregnant. And at that time the following year she had a son, just as Elisha had said. 2 Kings 4:8–17 NLT

*(Jesus) "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34, 35 NIV

*(Paul) "Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is declared right with God—something the law of Moses could never do." Acts 13:38–39 NLT