Eight Acres & Bakers

A few weeks ago we took a wonderful trip to my one of my favorite places, Key West! One of the best things to do while on vacation is to find a nice, relaxing spot on the beach, get my sun screen slathered on , then spend the day with my nose in a great book.

The condo we rented had a closet with 2 or 3 shelves worth of books. They even had a great library in the common area that was full of books. I must not be the only person that loves a great vacation read.

Towards the end of our stay I took another look-see through the closest shelves when book title; You Can If You Think You Can caught my eye. I knew that Norman Vincent Peale helped develop the magazine Guidepost, and I always enjoyed reading that every time I was at my grandmas, so I picked it up to browse the contents. I was surprised to see that it was published in 1974. I pointed out to my husband, whom was born in 1972, hey this book is about as old as you!

The chapter titles looked really interesting! The Persistence Principle: It’s Always Too Soon To Quit. Motivation That Really Motivates. You Can If You Think You Can. And my favorite, Expect Miracles: Make Miracles Happen.

I always feel guilty taking a book, but I know the unwritten rule of these vacation libraries is usually, take a book/leave a book. I rifled through the stash I brought and left a favorite Christian book I had been gifted last year. I thought more of a fair trade for an almost 50 year old book.

The pages were yellowed and some of them dog eared. The first chapter was a quick read and very enlightening. Something that grabbed my attention. I decided to save the rest of the book for the plane ride home. A four hour flight is never that much fun, so something that keeps me engrossed and makes the time fly by would be great.

As soon as the plane left the runway I pulled out the book and began reading. I was only a couple of pages in when I caught myself looking for something to write on. I needed to jot down one of Normans nuggets of wisdom. It wasn’t long before I had half a page filled with words or phrases I wanted to remember.

The chapter that struck me the most was the one that talked about miracles. A shop keeper received a package with a hand written note packed inside that simply said Expect Miracles. Him and his wife had a few problems in their life and when they decided to take the advice on the card, expect miracles, those life annoying problems seemed to find ways of working out for the better.

I was so taken back by the chapter that I decided to write a sermon titled that. While my church is waiting for a new pastor, some of the elders in the church fill in on Sundays to fill the pulpit. My turn to fill in was coming up the first Sunday of January. I felt led to speak to my congregation. Tell them how to welcome in the New Year, by Expecting Miracles!

Mr. Peale referenced in this particular book back to the first book he had ever written. When we returned home the first thing I did after unpacking and starting on dirty laundry was to order from Amazon the first book, The Power Of Positive Thinking. This book was published in the late 1950’s. If you think that a book so old has no relevance in todays world you would be wrong!

This book has so much importance in todays world, probably even more so then it did in the 50’s. I don’t think that Mr Peale could have imagined the things he said 70 years ago would be the same in the year 2025! In fact one of my favorite pod casters was repeating almost the same thing on his show a few months back.

I am only half way through this book. I am trying to savor each chapter. It’s one of those books you do not want to end. But the great thing is I know when it ends that there are a stack more books written by the late Norman Vincent Peale waiting to be discovered.

What are you reading?