He Thinks In Secret



Sometimes I don't know what I am going to write about, so I ask Elin. She said, "Write about that poem you always recite." I don't always recite it, but it is the only poem I have memorized at this point. And I am not sure it is a poem, exactly. Oh well. It comes from James Allen's book, "As a Man Thinketh," which is based on the scripture Proverbs 23:7:

Mind is the master power that moulds and makes;
and Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
the tools of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills.
He thinks in secret, it comes to pass;
Environment is but his looking glass.

(As that was from memory it might have a mistake or two. Also, I am not sure of the structure and punctuation. I just put what seemed right to me.)

This poem, or whatever, basically means that our thoughts shape our lives and world. The penultimate line is my favorite. While I don't believe in any kind of mind-reading, I do believe that our secrets become known because eventually they turn in to actions. A scripture from the Book of Mormon supports this idea:

But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

We have to watch ourselves, thoughts, words, and deeds. Thoughts eventually become words, which eventually become deeds. If I find that my actions aren't what I want them to be, then I need to go back to the source. It is tempting to say that I can't control my thoughts, but that isn't true. It may be that  thoughts jump into my head upon seeing or hearing something, but I can choose to move on from them immediately. God has blessed us with that ability.

Forrest
--Who is thinking about an extended weekend!