Your Thoughts Make Your Life

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."¹

William James, the father of American psychology, stated that, "the greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind [your thinking]." He also said, "If you change your mind, you can change your life." 

While what William James said is true, this truth wasn't discovered by his generation. Two thousand years ago God's word pointed out the importance of right thinking. 

It is true; we can change our lives by changing our thinking—either for good or bad. If we harbor and dwell on negative thoughts, we will act in negative ways. On the other hand, if we harbor and dwell on positive thoughts, we will act in positive ways. What we think about comes about. 

As another has said, "What the mind dwells on the body acts on." Think of temptation for instance. First comes a thought and, if we entertain it, it hooks our feelings, and the stronger we feel about it, the more we keep thinking about it, and the more we rationalize about doing it … and unless we nip that thinking in the bud, we give in to the temptation and act it out. 

So as an unknown author also wisely said: 

    Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes.
    Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.
    Watch your words; they lead to actions.
    Watch your actions; they lead to habits.
    Watch your habits; they form your character.
    Watch your character; it determines your destiny. 

THE EAGLE THAT ACTED LIKE A CHICKEN

"But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."¹

The following illustration has been around the email circuit for quite a while but it is a good reminder. Also, there are different versions of this story, but they all make an excellent point.

A man found an eagle's egg and put it into the nest of a prairie chicken. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life, the eagle, thinking he was a prairie chicken, did whatever the other prairie chickens did. He scratched in the dirt for seeds and insects to eat. He clucked and cackled. And he flew in a brief thrashing of wings and flurry of feathers no more than a few feet off the ground. After all, that's how prairie chickens were supposed to fly.

Years passed. The eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. Hanging with graceful majesty on the powerful wind currents, it soared with scarcely a beat of its strong wooden wings.

"What a beautiful bird!" said the eagle to his neighbor. "What is it?"

"That's an eagle—the chief of the birds," the neighbor clucked. "But don't give it a second thought. You could never be like him."

And so the eagle, thinking he was just a prairie chicken and not able to soar into the heights, lived his life groveling and picking at the ground, never experiencing the exhilaration of flight and the majesty which was his by birthright.

Tragically, this is the picture of many Christians today. With the God-given ability to "soar on wings like eagles," as Isaiah wrote, they fail to take advantage of the abilities and blessings that God has prepared for all who truly hope and trust in him.

Let each of us determine that, with God's help, this will not be our fate, but rather that we will be like eagles and become and do all that God has planned and envisioned for us to become and do, and therein reach our God-given potential—and reap the rewards for all eternity.