There have been many books that have changed my life. The Bible is the first and foremost in changing the life I used to live. And while other books that I have read come to mind in transforming my life, the writings of Viktor Frankl top the list. And who is Viktor Frankl? Viktor Emil Frankl was a Jewish-Austrian psychiatrist and holocaust survivor who founded logo therapy, a school of psychotherapy that describes a search for a life's meaning as the central human motivational force. Logotherapy is part of existential and humanistic psychology theories.
One of the hardest things to deal with in life are uncertainties. We like certainties. They're comfortable, predictable, safe. But uncertainties...no...They are very uncomfortable, very unpredictable, and super unsafe. But what if there is hope in our uncertainties? What if with God; what circumstances we face can be changed by the way we look at them? Viktor argues the following:
"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." What is this? "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." What attitude do you have about your current set of circumstances? What way have you been choosing? Have you challenged yourself to change?
I get it, it's easier said than done. But doing the work required to change your attitude is hard at first and rewarding at last! In all that we do, we can trust God. Why? Because like the sign says outside our (Milton) church, "Jesus - No roaming charges. No lost calls, Unlimited minutes." This Sabbath, go to Him. Cry, yell, seek Him...I guarantee, He will be found by you.
So until next time, this is Pastor Tello remind you that thoughts do change lives!
Pastor Howard Tello