Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Being Positive Makes Your Live Longer!

Duke University confirms biblical teaching! Christ said, "Don't worry about anything." (Matt. 6:25-34) Paul said, "Focus on thinking about good and great things." (Phil. 4:8) The researchers at Duke University says doing that makes you live longer. Here is the link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/optimistic-heart-patients-live-longer/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Trusting Christ as Savior makes you live forever! So go be optimistic (which is just another word for saying you really, really do trust our Father and what He says about life and you)! You may be facing difficult circumstances that I can't imagine, and you may think this is a bunch of garbage because you've either had to or are enduring a lot of pain and suffering. No, I can't understand your situation, but neither can I understand how the famous psychiatrist Viktor Frankl endured the horrors of being in Nazi concentration camps for three years, losing all of his family to torture and the gas chambers (except his sister who escaped), and still emerging with hope. A few favorite quotes:

  • "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
  • "When we are no longer able to change a situation – just think of an incurable disease such as inoperable cancer – we are challenged to change ourselves."
  • "Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him – mentally and spiritually. He may retain his human dignity even in a concentration camp."
His book, "Man's Search for Meaning" was declared as one of the ten most influential books in the U.S. by a survey taken by the Library of Congress. Half of the book is his recounting his day-to-day experiences in the concentration camps. If he could learn to focus on the good above what he saw, then why can't we? Here is a short clip of a presentation he made almost 40 years ago.



I pray that we all would find our meaning in life in Christ, and then allow Him to change the way we think about Him, ourselves, others, our purpose...well, you get the idea!

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