By T. Joe Eggebrecht, Bridgeport, IL
Guest Essayist

T. Joe Eggebrecht is an acquaintance from the middle 1950's and only recently we became re-acquainted through my friend Bob Tinsky of Oblong, Illinois. Joe Eggebrecht is a retired preacher who continues to assist small churches and has done supply preaching since his retirement in 1993. Joe presents some very interesting thoughts in his essay; in fact the expression "mind over matter" comes to my mind - see what you THINK. THE WORDWRIGHT

The word "proactive" is a somewhat recently coined word. It means "acting in anticipation of future problems, needs, or changes." However, thousands of years before the term "proactive" was coined the Jewish sages gave this tool a name, "zerizus." Rabbi Zelig Pliskin writes that it is that quality with us that fuels achievement. He calls it "joyful will power" to make our dreams come true. Zerizus appears to come from the YOZER which means to form in the mind or devise a plan. That is that which Jehovah told Jeremiah [Jere.1:5] See also Jer.18:11 where Jehovah informed Israel that their disobedience had caused Him to "frame" evil against them. [See also Isa.45:7]

Continuing with this thought Pliskin wrote: "Run through positive, joyful scenes of you taking meaningful action a number of times. In just a few minutes you can see very many repetitions in your mind. While in real life such activities would take a much larger time to repeat, imagining positive mental pictures can be done in a fraction of the time.

"If you knew that you could reach any goal that you visualized, what goal would you picture yourself reaching? Experiment! Keep practicing mentally, and see in what ways you benefit."

A student of Pliskin's questioned that this would work but later he reported to the rabbi, "Once I saw that this worked for me, I began to use visualizations for motivating myself to do more and more things. This was life-transforming for me. I was able to practice over and over again. Since these practice sessions were just pictures in my mind, I could visualize many more times than I possibly could actually do the things I visualized. In a short time, I was able to do hundreds of repetitions. I enjoyed making these mental pictures and I found the entire process a source of positive feelings."

If you grasp what Pliskin has said, then you can better understand Solomon. Solomon said "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." [Prov. 23:7] Before you dismiss all of this as balderdash, think of the success of the meditative pitcher Al Hrabosky. Cardinal fans during the 1970's lovingly called him "The Mad Hungarian". He wasn't just getting rid of a wad of tobacco when he was prancing back and forth behind the mound, he was psyching himself to strike out the batter. As you go to sleep tonight do in your mind a task you have to perform tomorrow, but you really don't know how. While you sleep your mind may work all night on the project while your body rests. In the morning you will arise with a complete "how to do it." I speak personally as I have done this many times on carpentry projects, on sermon outlines and ministerial tasks.

Perhaps this is why Jesus was constantly asking his hearers what they thought. [Read Matt. 5:27-28;17:24-27; 22:42; 26:51-53] Jesus is concerned not only with that which we do but also that which we think, because our "thinker" has a lot of power.

How about a penny (or more) for your thoughts?

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THANKS, JOE, for your thoughts on THINKING and using that marvelous incubator of a tool God has given us. THE WORDWRIGHT