“Jonah’s Story,” or “How to Turn Your Life Around”
When my best thinking has gotten me into my worst situations, the only way I can change my life is by changing my thinking.
To turn a negative experience around, I forgive, I listen with my heart, and I turn my thoughts in a positive direction.
I wake up from self-limiting thought. I bless and give thanks, as I take a new direction toward the ceaseless flow of my own good.
I stop resisting my inner guidance and I take a “right turn,” even if it means kicking and screaming down the path of transformation.
Responsive Reading for Sunday, July 22
"’Give thanks to the LORD who is good, whose love endures forever!’ . . . Some had lost their way in a barren desert; found no path toward a city to live in . . . . In their distress they cried to the LORD, who rescued them in their peril, Guided them by a direct path so they reached a city to live in. Let them thank the LORD for such kindness . . . . Some went off to sea in ships . . . a storm wind . . . tossed the waves on high…. In their distress they cried to the LORD who brought them out of their peril, Hushed the storm to a murmur; the waves of the sea were stilled. They rejoiced that the sea grew calm, that God brought them to the harbor they longed for” (Psalm 107:1-30).
When my best thinking has gotten me into my worst situations, the only way I can change my life is by changing my thinking.
“Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.' But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear” (Matthew 13:15-16). “You have given me health and life; thus is my bitterness transformed into peace” (Isaiah 38:16-17).
To turn a negative experience around, I forgive, I listen with my heart, and I turn my thoughts in a positive direction.
God told Jonah to go and preach to the great city of Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to go there, so he “found a ship . . . and went aboard to journey . . . away from the LORD. . . .” The LORD sent a great storm, but Jonah . . . “had gone down into the hold of the ship, and lay there fast asleep.” Long story short, the captain ordered his men to throw Jonah overboard and the storm stopped. “But the Lord sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah; and he remained in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Finally, Jonah prayed to God and “the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore. . . . So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh” (Jonah 1-4).
I wake up from self-limiting thought. I bless and give thanks, as I take a new direction toward the ceaseless flow of my own good.
“Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2).
I stop resisting my inner guidance and I take a “right turn,” even if it means kicking and screaming down the path of transformation.