Promise Yourself

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:34-40 ESV). If you have ever attended the meetings of the Optimists, you are very familiar with the following. Promise yourself… To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind; To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet; To make all your friends feel that there is something in them; To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true; To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best; To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own; To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future; To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile; To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others; To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear; and too happy to permit the presence of trouble; To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds; To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you. 1 As I began to think about the verses of this morning’s reading, it was easy for me to recall the recitation of this “creed” on those days I have visited in the Optimist Club I have attended. So often we hear sermons about loving the Lord and loving others that we forget there is an important qualification to those two commandments. Jesus taught that we should love others “as we love ourself.” For many people that would be more of hatred than love! True love does begin within you. Mr. Larson did have the right idea when he penned those words adopted by Optimists all over the world as their creed. Read it again, this time with the thought of how you might apply each one in your life this week. 1. The Optimist Creed was authored in 1912 by Christian D. Larson, an advocate of positive thought. It was adopted as Optimist International's creed in 1922.