Think on These Things

Thoughts are things. Left unguarded we can expect them torule us with ruthless persistence. Like attracts like. We are what wethink.

Emerson believed there was something stronger than any material force.It was his belief that thought rules the world. To think positively issometimes referred to as refusing to face reality. But who is wiseenough to determine what reality is, and who can describe it? The thingswe see and touch are merely objects made up of tiny particles we can'tsee individually. So it is with reality - tiny thoughts we don'tremember thinking, but the result is obviously positive or negative.

If we think continually of how sick and nervous, how unhappy andpoverty-stricken we are, then we can expect to be so afflicted. Tinythoughts produce large results. When we've learned to control ourthinking, then we have a chance to control our circumstances.

Imperfect thoughts, like unsavory characters, can come to anyone's door,but we don't have to let them in. Sometimes we have to look beyondpresent appearances and see the truth of things, to know that anyproduct is worth only as much as the quality of its materials. We wouldbe wise to put into practice the teaching of Philippians 4:8.

"Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoeverthings are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things arelovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue,and if there be any praise ... think on these things."

In the frantic search for something that has meaning tolife, we have a tendency to do a thing simply because everyone else isdoing it. It becomes a "thing," a fad that must be done to keep on theinside circle. There's little originality, little thought, but a lot offollowing along in beaten paths.

It is a mistaken idea to believe that all I see with my eyes and thelimits of my thinking are the limits of the world. There is atremendously interesting world out there never before investigated, andI am an individual like no one else.

It is quite marvelous to break through the shell of the middling and todiscover the ability to see and feel, and to hear more keenly. Suddenly,I can feel more kindly, not because of who I am on this earth, butbecause I'm a child of God.

I can see more color, more light, more vision because I'm not beingshown, I'm discovering. My world is no longer based on passing fancies,but on the lasting built slowly within me, with love.

To so many, getting up in the morning is the worst way tobegin a day. To them every morning is the morning after, a time to feelnervous anxiety and regret in the deepest sense, while to others morningis a new world. Yesterday ceased to be with sleep last night.

How much better off we'd be if only for a few hours we could put out ofour minds every painful thought and every unpleasant person until themind and body could find enough new life to begin again.

"The early morning hath gold in its mouth," wrote Franklin. But it hasthings more precious than gold. It has life as fresh and sweet as theshimmering, clinging dewdrops in the first rays of golden sunlight. Ithas the grace of mimosa leaves rippling in the gentlest breeze. It hasthe songs of the birds and the love of a new awakening.

And in this breathless creation is something more. A new opportunity,another chance, a challenge to walk on, more strong, more forgiving,more loving.

Sleep deep and rest sweet, but rise glad. Don't let one joyful second belost in dead oblivion. This is a vision of newness awaiting even theleast to arise and accept the best - a new beginning.

Morning need not be a jury trial for oneself. Dawn and sleep can be amiraculous cleansing to set us out on our feet ready to begin again andin a friendlier atmosphere. We must feel friendly toward ourselvesbefore we can possibly find morning good to anyone else.

An unknown writer once wrote: "Every morning lean thine arms awhile uponthe window sill of heaven, and gaze upon thy Lord, then, with the visionin thy heart, turn strong to meet thy day."

We need to be strong to meet the day with self control, to find ourreason and purpose, but, more important, to leave behind us the heavyand darkened thoughts that kept us from seeing the breath-taking beautyof the most important time - this morning.

Excerpted from Think on These Things by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. Copyright © 1966 by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.