12-06-2007, 07:26 AM
It seems that this time of year many problems seem to manifest themselves in the lives of almost all individuals, myself included. It is always tempting just to try to go into hiding and try to let everything pass and work itself out. But one thing I have learned is that problems don't go away by ignoring them or by pretending they don't exist.
I recently came across a sermon by Norman Vincent Peale, Titled, "Problems are Good for You" parts of which I would like to share with you.
"If anybody comes along -- politician, preacher, or what not -- and tells you that you are someday going to be free of problems, just don't believe him. It is not so. Problems are inherent in the nature of the universe. (Job 5.7)
There is no escape from problems, but the idea is to struggle to overcome problems.
We may as well learn how to handle problems.
How do you go about doing that?
There is a great text in the Gospel of John which says, "When he, the Spirit of Trust, is come, he will guide you into all truth."
Our religion is built upon perception, upon insight, upon understanding, and upon wisdom.
There is a wisdom about problems. One of the basic elements of this wisdom is the deep philosophy which sees a problem as a creative opportunity.
If we didn't have problems, we'd have to invent them, because our direction in life would be lost without problems. Problems help to steer a course through the years.
Problems are good for you; and you know this when the Spirit of Truth guides you into all truth. So let's never fall into the superficial assumption that the total elimination of problems would be the greatest thing that could happen.
Wisdom about problems is what we need.
One of the wisest individuals I have ever known -- had a natural perceptiveness of the truth in God and the truth in people.... One day I went to him -- I was very young then -- and said, "I've got an awful problem." He said, "I've never seen an awful problem," -- "Let me see yours, I've always wanted to see an awful problem."
I ignored his comments and repeated, "I've got an awful problem." After telling him my problem, he remarked, "That's a pretty good problem. Congratulation!"
"What do you mean, Congratulation?"
He said, "Don't you know anything about God? God is just having the time of his life. He has a sense of humor. You know, God actually has a lot of fun with us people. He plays games with us; games like we use to play as children. God plays hiding games. He takes some wonderful thing and puts it down in the middle of a great big trouble. Then He gives you the trouble and says, 'Let Me see you find what I put in there!' He just chuckles while you hunt around in this trouble. When you find it, He laughs out loud, He's so happy.
All right son, my friend said, let us take this problem and just tear it to pieces." I had never seen a man dismember a problem. I've watched a Thanksgiving turkey being carved, and that's quite an art, but it is nothing compared with the way my wise friend carved up this problem. Finally he exclaimed, "Look son, there it is! There is that wonderful thing God put in this problem for you!"
I was never so thrilled in all my life. I never forgot the wise philosophy of this marvelous old man who had the perception of the truth that leads to all truth.
So when you have a problem, sit down and just tear that problem apart, looking for the good that is in it. That is the way God devised it.
Bear in mind, God wants to make us strong people.
I've always felt that what He is trying to do is make strong people of us, so that eventually He can say to each one of us, "Well done -- You are as strong as this world can make you. Now I'm going to give you a bigger job with Me."
Nobody in this world has ever truly found himself until he has developed a philosophy about problems and troubles and realizes that the way to handle a problem or a trouble is to handle it spiritually.
I was once told by a great man that he wouldn't think of handling a problem unless he handled it spiritually. By this he meant that he would always pray about it, and try to find God's answer about it.
I want to share with you, his eight points for handling a problem spiritually. It really works.
1. Don't panic. Keep calm. Even though you have to discipline yourself, keep calm. This is the only way to start handling a problem.
2. Don't be overwhelmed by your problem. Don't get dramatic about it. Just tell yourself, "Well its a problem. But I am here and God is here and I can handle it."
3. Practice de-confusion, because a problem generally becomes surrounded by confusion. So de-confuse it. A good way to do that is to take a paper and pencil and write every element of the problem down. That will help you see it freed from the blurring effect of emotional upheaval. De-confusion works wonders.
4. Don't engage in postmortems. Don't nurse regrets, thinking "Why did I do that? Why didn't I do this? Oh, I wish I hadn't done that!" Forget all that. Take the problem from where you are now.
5. Seek a solution, not for the whole problem, but for the next step. If you deal with a problem in a sequence of proper steps, you will see it completely solved after a while. One step leads to another and then another till the complete solution is reached. Be content to see the next step.
6. Practice creative listening. This is how a friend practiced this idea. When he found himself faced with a big problem he would call his dog and go out into the woods. He said, He thought his dog had more understanding than a lot of the people around him. He would walk until he found a stump, then sit down, and his dog would lie at his feet looking up at him. He would describe the problem out loud to the dog, the trees, to the air, and to any animal which cared to listen, and to God. Every once in a while, the dog would seem to be thinking, "What's the matter with you? Why are you so stupid?" Then all of the sudden, my friend would hear -- not by the outer ear, but by the deep inner ear -- the voice of God. He and the dog would then go home. Creative listening -- you don't have to have a dog or go into the woods to practice it.
7. Always ask what is the right thing to do in the given situation. If what you do isn't the right thing, it is the wrong thing. And no wrong thing ever turned out right. So if you insist on doing the right thing, you'll come out right.
8. Keep on praying, keep on thinking, keep on believing.
Here you have an eight-point program for spiritual handling of a problem. If you will set yourself this standard, that you will handle every problem spiritually, then over the long term you will have high results, because you will be operating on a right principle. So whatever your problem is, bring spiritual wisdom to bear upon it and you will get a right answer.
As I have gone back over this, it has come to mind that all this might be summarized in a paraphrase of the 4 Noble Truths of Buddha: Life is full of problems, Each problem has a purpose, There is a way to overcome or resolve each of our problems, the Way to overcome the problems is to follow the Middle Way, the eight-fold noble path. The Eight fold noble path is to have right views, right thoughts, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration, meditation, or prayer. This gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to awakening, and to nirvana. But it must be remembered that Buddha when asked by a disciple -- what is to be done when we reach nirvana? -- The Buddha replied -- Keep following the Middle Way, the eight-fold noble path.
Now I will close with a prayer used by Rev Peale:
Heavenly Father, when you created this universe, You permitted problems to be here. We assume You did so for a real and salutary purpose. Help us therefore to know that out of the handling of problems comes wisdom and by Thy help and guidance, if we determine to handle a problem right, we will get a right and a proper answer. For this we give Thee thanks.
With Love,
Rev Dorris
I recently came across a sermon by Norman Vincent Peale, Titled, "Problems are Good for You" parts of which I would like to share with you.
"If anybody comes along -- politician, preacher, or what not -- and tells you that you are someday going to be free of problems, just don't believe him. It is not so. Problems are inherent in the nature of the universe. (Job 5.7)
There is no escape from problems, but the idea is to struggle to overcome problems.
We may as well learn how to handle problems.
How do you go about doing that?
There is a great text in the Gospel of John which says, "When he, the Spirit of Trust, is come, he will guide you into all truth."
Our religion is built upon perception, upon insight, upon understanding, and upon wisdom.
There is a wisdom about problems. One of the basic elements of this wisdom is the deep philosophy which sees a problem as a creative opportunity.
If we didn't have problems, we'd have to invent them, because our direction in life would be lost without problems. Problems help to steer a course through the years.
Problems are good for you; and you know this when the Spirit of Truth guides you into all truth. So let's never fall into the superficial assumption that the total elimination of problems would be the greatest thing that could happen.
Wisdom about problems is what we need.
One of the wisest individuals I have ever known -- had a natural perceptiveness of the truth in God and the truth in people.... One day I went to him -- I was very young then -- and said, "I've got an awful problem." He said, "I've never seen an awful problem," -- "Let me see yours, I've always wanted to see an awful problem."
I ignored his comments and repeated, "I've got an awful problem." After telling him my problem, he remarked, "That's a pretty good problem. Congratulation!"
"What do you mean, Congratulation?"
He said, "Don't you know anything about God? God is just having the time of his life. He has a sense of humor. You know, God actually has a lot of fun with us people. He plays games with us; games like we use to play as children. God plays hiding games. He takes some wonderful thing and puts it down in the middle of a great big trouble. Then He gives you the trouble and says, 'Let Me see you find what I put in there!' He just chuckles while you hunt around in this trouble. When you find it, He laughs out loud, He's so happy.
All right son, my friend said, let us take this problem and just tear it to pieces." I had never seen a man dismember a problem. I've watched a Thanksgiving turkey being carved, and that's quite an art, but it is nothing compared with the way my wise friend carved up this problem. Finally he exclaimed, "Look son, there it is! There is that wonderful thing God put in this problem for you!"
I was never so thrilled in all my life. I never forgot the wise philosophy of this marvelous old man who had the perception of the truth that leads to all truth.
So when you have a problem, sit down and just tear that problem apart, looking for the good that is in it. That is the way God devised it.
Bear in mind, God wants to make us strong people.
I've always felt that what He is trying to do is make strong people of us, so that eventually He can say to each one of us, "Well done -- You are as strong as this world can make you. Now I'm going to give you a bigger job with Me."
Nobody in this world has ever truly found himself until he has developed a philosophy about problems and troubles and realizes that the way to handle a problem or a trouble is to handle it spiritually.
I was once told by a great man that he wouldn't think of handling a problem unless he handled it spiritually. By this he meant that he would always pray about it, and try to find God's answer about it.
I want to share with you, his eight points for handling a problem spiritually. It really works.
1. Don't panic. Keep calm. Even though you have to discipline yourself, keep calm. This is the only way to start handling a problem.
2. Don't be overwhelmed by your problem. Don't get dramatic about it. Just tell yourself, "Well its a problem. But I am here and God is here and I can handle it."
3. Practice de-confusion, because a problem generally becomes surrounded by confusion. So de-confuse it. A good way to do that is to take a paper and pencil and write every element of the problem down. That will help you see it freed from the blurring effect of emotional upheaval. De-confusion works wonders.
4. Don't engage in postmortems. Don't nurse regrets, thinking "Why did I do that? Why didn't I do this? Oh, I wish I hadn't done that!" Forget all that. Take the problem from where you are now.
5. Seek a solution, not for the whole problem, but for the next step. If you deal with a problem in a sequence of proper steps, you will see it completely solved after a while. One step leads to another and then another till the complete solution is reached. Be content to see the next step.
6. Practice creative listening. This is how a friend practiced this idea. When he found himself faced with a big problem he would call his dog and go out into the woods. He said, He thought his dog had more understanding than a lot of the people around him. He would walk until he found a stump, then sit down, and his dog would lie at his feet looking up at him. He would describe the problem out loud to the dog, the trees, to the air, and to any animal which cared to listen, and to God. Every once in a while, the dog would seem to be thinking, "What's the matter with you? Why are you so stupid?" Then all of the sudden, my friend would hear -- not by the outer ear, but by the deep inner ear -- the voice of God. He and the dog would then go home. Creative listening -- you don't have to have a dog or go into the woods to practice it.
7. Always ask what is the right thing to do in the given situation. If what you do isn't the right thing, it is the wrong thing. And no wrong thing ever turned out right. So if you insist on doing the right thing, you'll come out right.
8. Keep on praying, keep on thinking, keep on believing.
Here you have an eight-point program for spiritual handling of a problem. If you will set yourself this standard, that you will handle every problem spiritually, then over the long term you will have high results, because you will be operating on a right principle. So whatever your problem is, bring spiritual wisdom to bear upon it and you will get a right answer.
As I have gone back over this, it has come to mind that all this might be summarized in a paraphrase of the 4 Noble Truths of Buddha: Life is full of problems, Each problem has a purpose, There is a way to overcome or resolve each of our problems, the Way to overcome the problems is to follow the Middle Way, the eight-fold noble path. The Eight fold noble path is to have right views, right thoughts, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration, meditation, or prayer. This gives vision, gives knowledge, and leads to calm, to insight, to awakening, and to nirvana. But it must be remembered that Buddha when asked by a disciple -- what is to be done when we reach nirvana? -- The Buddha replied -- Keep following the Middle Way, the eight-fold noble path.
Now I will close with a prayer used by Rev Peale:
Heavenly Father, when you created this universe, You permitted problems to be here. We assume You did so for a real and salutary purpose. Help us therefore to know that out of the handling of problems comes wisdom and by Thy help and guidance, if we determine to handle a problem right, we will get a right and a proper answer. For this we give Thee thanks.
With Love,
Rev Dorris