POSITIVE THINKING

The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale's landmark book, has some basis in Scripture. Offhand I don't know where. For the present moment it really doesn't make any difference. The point is simply well-taken and very important. Peale spent a lifetime trying to convince everyone that there is indeed power in positive thinking.

Yes, there is power in the cross and power in the blood, as those old hymns remind us. No doubt about that. But neither the cross of Jesus Christ nor his death on that cross nor even his resurrection from the dead to eternal life mean very much if we are down on ourselves or down on our faith or down on our church. Nor can even they do very much for us either. If we do not want to get well, or worse, if we feel that we are so ill that we will never get well, we won't, no matter how good the medical team, no matter what is done for us medically, physically or spiritually. No matter anything.

The first step toward a healthy anything is to be convinced that there is a road to recovery, that good health and vitality is indeed possible no matter how gloomy the prognosis. Doctors have been known to be wrong. And miracles do happen. Wonders never cease if one expects something wonderful to happen. The most difficult thing to do is convince ourselves that something wonderful can and will happen, if we want it. That's positive thinking.

Positive thinking is the important first step. Without it we are doomed to trip, stumble and fall. With it we can take the next step and the next and the next: one step at a time. No leaps and bounds right off. Save that for later. Right now: one step at a time. Positive thinking is first, the first step.

But positive thinking is not enough. All the positive thinking and all the faith in the world won't do us one bit of good if we don't do something, if we don't help the situation to improve. Work, a lot of hard work, is also demanded – on everyone's part. No idlers, no shirkers, no buck-passers if we want something done. We all have to pitch in and lend a hand and an arm and a leg. Then our dreams and hopes, our positive thoughts, will begin to become realities.

We're not looking for miracles. That would be nice, of course. But even those who looked for miracles from Jesus had to have positive thinking. They had to believe that he could and would do something good, something positive for them. And then they had to do something in return: they had to go up and ask. And if a miracle did happen, they had to go on living it and not revert back to their old ways.

But thinking positively is where we must first begin in any endeavor as individual people and as a community. Negativity never builds up. It always tears down. Add prayer to thinking positively and we have step two. Steps three and four, whatever they are, will follow. The future for us as individuals, as a community, as a world, is only as bright as we think it will be. I happen to think that it can be very bright. I pray that it will be, but I must do my part. So do each one of us.