My God Centered Green Life

We all have those lists of people who we would love to meet some day - people who have influenced our lives to such a degree that we just really must meet them and thank them in person. One such person on my list is Norman Vincent Peale. I know one of these days I will meet him in heaven and I am eager to shake his hand (maybe hug his neck) and tell him how much I appreciated his words.


My first introduction to Norman Vincent Peale was in the late 1980's. I had heard his name before and I had seen the title of one of his books, The Power of Positive Thinking, but I had never actually read the little pink book. I don't remember now where or why I bought the book, but I remember reading it. I remember pondering some of the things he said about positive thinking; I had never thought of positive thinking as being a choice. Up until that time I believed that we were born under a cloud or sunny side up and that was our lot in life. This book opened my eyes to the possibilities of positivity being part of the life of everyone, including my own. What a concept.


It may be true that some of us were born under a cloud, or perhaps circumstances block the sunlight from our lives; we still have a choice to seek positivity. In Peale's life, as well as in my own, this positivity has God/Jesus at its core. There is no room for negativity in a life filled with Christ. This is not to say that I bound out of bed every day with a smile on my face ready to greet a day filled with rapture; after all I am only a human, not God. Living in Christ does mean that I don't stay down long, however. Once I remember that to be in Christ means to be Christ and to be Christ means only light and positivity can enter.


This is just one of the lessons I learned from that little pink book; there are more that build on that same theme. I still have my copy of that book, worn and battered from much reading. I also have other books penned by Peale. I love them all. One such book is Have a Great Day; it is a daily inspiration book. Here is the inspiration for yesterday (January 7):


"Fear can infect us early in life until eventually it cuts a deep groove of apprehension in all our thinking. To counteract it, let faith, hope and courage enter you thinking. Fear is strong, but faith is strongest yet. The Bible tells us, '... And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not...'(Revelation 1:17). His hand is always upon you too."


Who would you like to meet?