Earlier this week, I heard an author on the radio. I'm not even sure what he said, but something in the 30-second blurb compelled me to find and buy his book. (Don't worry, it's not The Secret!) I went to Hasting (the closest thing we have to a "real" book store in Roswell. They had one copy. For almost $25. I never spend that much on a single book. So I left to check Sam's and Wal-Mart. They didn't have it. So I went back to Hastings. The book is, "Change your Heart, Change your Life" by Dr. Gary Smalley.
Over the next 3 or 4 weeks, I'm going to be on an (almost) internet fast. I will check my mail (briefly) each day, and I will update this blog as I can. The only exception will be if I feel a need to write a friend a letter. No sweepstakes. No surveys. No surfing. I'm going to spend some time "hiding God's word in my heart, so I don't sin against Him.". That's the premise of the book. Not a new concept, I know. King David penned those words.
I will be sharing some of the insight I gain here.
* No one can make me unhappy. My ability to be happy or unhappy is entirely in my hands. I will be as happy as the beliefs in my heart allow me to be.
* What I think about all day long, over long periods of time, eventually seeps into my heart as a belief.
* I can pass on a new kind of inheritance. How I act will reflect what I believe and in turn, those beliefs will be reflected within my own children and grandchildren for generations.
* America is awash with the idea that everyone has a right to have whatever he or she wants and to be free from any kind of misfortune.
* You feel the way you think, you think the way you believe. Beliefs are the primary source of your attitudes, reactions, feelings, and behaviors.
* Events don't cause my feelings. What I think about the events cause my feelings.
* Most of our unhappiness in life comes from the three "deadlies": the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
I love Dr. Smalley's paraphrase of that verse:
Don't crave the things the average person in the world craves. Don't take on beliefs of the world, which are:
1. The deep cravings to stimulate your bodies with never ending pleasures, excitements, or thrills.
2. The carvings to buy more and more stuff, play things, and tasty foods to fill your houses and stomachs; and
3. bragging about all you have and you have accomplished and taking the credit for it all instead of giving glory and thanks to God.
1 John 2:15-17
More later.
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