On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance, for after all God gave us brains to use. Our thought-life will be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.To be honest, I wasn't really worried about my thoughts or about being dishonest or self-seeking. That self-pity thing, though, was a bit rampant in my expectations for the day. I work with a lot of people, and some of them frustrate me. Not many do so more than one person I was to spend the majority of the workday with today--and tomorrow and perhaps Wednesday. I pitied me despite asking God to direct my thoughts, but I remembered a wise mentor I had many years ago who would listen to my tale of woe about a situation and then tell me, "Sometimes the best way out is through." With that thought I could bear to face the day.
I found myself pleasantly surprised. It's not that the person didn't still irritate me some of the time, but not ALL of it. What the person said ACTUALLY MADE SOME SENSE! I found myself interested and ready to follow the line of thought. Wow!
What a change from past encounters! Wow! Later the same passage advises
We ask especially for freedom from self-will, and are careful to make no request for ourselves only. We may ask for ourselves, however, if others will be helped. We are careful never to pray for our own selfish ends. Many of us have wasted a lot of time doing that and it doesn't work.I can easily see myself having prayed that the irritant be less irritating. I didn't. I prayed about my own thoughts instead. And I was blessed. I'm almost looking forward to tomorrow. Almost.
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