A Book Of Remembrance: Wisdom From The AgesSample

  “People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul…You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair. In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then and then only are you grown old – and then, indeed, as the ballad says, you just fade away.”

-Douglas MacArthur-

All too often we see people give up on their ideals in life. As Douglas MacArthur so eloquently stated, their hearts become icy with cynicism and cold with pessimism. This magnificent soldier was also blessed with the answer on how to combat this world-weariness. It all lies in the messages we receive on a daily basis. 

As today’s Bible passage reveals, we must fill our minds and hearts with the positive things in life. If we feed ourselves nothing but evil and negativity, that is all we will produce. This negativity will devour our souls if left unchecked.

In order to produce not only good thoughts, but good fruit, we must think and meditate on the goodness of God in all His fullness. Thinking is not enough, however. As the closing of our Bible passage today shows, we must put what we have learned from the word of God into practice. We must be doers of the word and not just hearers. (James 1:22)

If we do these things, as Paul states, we will receive an immeasurable blessing from the Creator of the universe – His never-ending peace. So, for today, let us alter our thinking and our actions to that which is light, so that we may receive the ever-present fullness of the Living God in all His Eternal Glory.