Life is a reflex of mental states. As far as you are concerned, the character that things will bear will be the character that you first impress upon them. Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you. If you put your condemnation upon anything in life, it will hit back at you and hurt you. If you bless any situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even if it is troublesome for a time it will gradually fade out—if you sincerely bless it.

We are told, you remember, that whatever name Adam gave to an animal—that was its name; and of course you know that the name of a thing means its character. Adam said to one animal, “You are a tiger, ferocious,” and so it was. To another, he said, “You are a gazelle, gentle and kind,” and so it was. Now, Adam is Everyman, and until we learn to give good names, to “christen” everything, we shall have enemies of various kinds to deal with.

Bless your body. If there is anything wrong with a particular organ, bless that organ. (Of course, you must bless the organ and not the disease.) Bless your home. Bless your business. Bless your associates. Turn any seeming enemies into friends by blessing them. Bless the climate. Bless the town, and the state, and the country.

Bless a thing and it will bless you.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

—Isaiah 55:11.

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory.

—I Corinthians 2:7.

Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s…. Ye shall not need to fight this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

—II Chronicles 20:15, 17.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

—Isaiah 55:7.

EMMET FOX