I got this in an email and I thought I'd share... Hope you get as blessed as I am reading this excerpt...
* Candi *
One day, a man joined the monastery and took a vow of silence. He was allowed to say two words every seven years.
After the first seven years, the elders brought him in and asked for his two words. "Bad food," he said. They nod and send him away.
Seven more years passed. They called him to come in and asked for his two words. He said, "Hard Bed." They nod and send him away. "
Seven more years passed. They called him again and asked him to speak. "I quit," he said.
"That's not surprising," they said. "Ever since you came here, you've done nothing else but complain."
Are you like this monk? You may be religious, you may be attending church, and you may be praying all day—but if you keep on focusing on what's bad—you'll never be happy.
Do you want to be happy?
The key to happiness is gratitude. A grateful person is a happy person. And an ungrateful person is an unhappy person. Here's my definition of a grateful person: A grateful person focuses on what is good.
It's almost the same definition for a loving person…
Love Does Not Keep A Record Of Wrong
A loving person focuses on what's good in the other person. And an unloving person focuses on what's bad in the other person.
At the end of the day, I believe that only love can change you. How can love do that? Precisely because Love focuses on the good. (1 Corinthians 13 says "Love never keeps a record of wrong.")
When you focus on the good in you, that good multiplies, grows, develops, and reproduces within you. When you focus on the bad in you, that bad multiplies, grows, develops, and reproduces within you too.
That's why I believe only God's Love can change you forever.
God's Beauty Is Within You
What does God see in you?
Genesis 1:27 says that you're made in His image.
Personally, I believe that's what He sees in you. Your beauty. Your Holiness. Your magnificence. Your splendor. Your glory.
We're too familiar with the Doctrine of Original Sin. Original Sin says we're depraved at our very core. That we're big-time sinners through and through.
That's true.
But we need to balance this with an equally important Doctrine called the Doctrine of Original Innocence. Original Beauty. Original Holiness.
I have a deep personal experience on this. I actually changed my life when I stopped focusing on my sin and started focusing on God's Love.
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