Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Think Well


As leaders do we help our people think well? I have traveled to Alkebulan (the indigenous word for Africa) on three mission trips.  The spiritual impact of the trips were so profound I encourage others to take the pilgrimage to the motherland, the birthplace of civilization. When they return home from the trip the overwhelming first response has been – “compared to the United States, the people of Africa are suffering yet the majority are still warm, peaceful and joyful.  How do they maintain this state of mind?”

Author Byron Katie writes that our thoughts create suffering.  Suffering is a choice. Ouch. She encourages us to question and challenge our thoughts. She offers four questions for our examination: 1. Is it true; 2. Can we absolutely know its true; 3.How do we react when we believe the thought;     4.Who would we be without the thought-if we did not believe the thought?

By their actions it appears that the people of Alkebulan choose to accept the thought that they are valuable and worthy.

The other day I visited with a well educated and affluent young woman.  As I listened to her, I could hear how her thoughts of being invaluable and unworthy had moved her into a lifestyle of suffering. She is addicted to prescription pain medication that escalated into heroine use. She was seeking to understand how she choose addiction.

May we remind ourselves and ours to think well… we are valuable and worthy - deliverance is available. All we have to do is accept the gift. Then the journey of transformation begins.