For a few minutes, we're going to discuss something
that I feel is mighty important and something
that I'm so grateful for and something that I
realize is so lacking in the lives of literally
thousands and... thousands of people today. And
that is peace of mind. Do you realize that there
are comparatively few people who have honest
to goodness peace of mind? After a day's work,
they can go home. Lie down, go to sleep without
a sedative, without a sleeping pill, without
something to put them to sleep. And then sleep
all night without being disturbed by a mental
torment of some kind. Peace of mind. I'm telling
you, it's the most important possession an individual
can have outside of his own salvation. He's like
that. Even if one has health, love, beauty, talent,
power, fame, money, prestige, steel, If one lacks
peace of mind, life is a hideous torment and
an intolerable burden. Now, there are several
basic reasons why so many people do not have
this blessed inner peace. And we're going to
be very practical about the whole thing today.
Very practical. As Papa used to say, we're not
going to spare the horses. First of all, let's
talk about something that is very prevalent in
most lives. We worry about things we do not have.
And then we become dissatisfied with what we
have. I believe this is... One of the most dissatisfied
generations that ever existed. I mean that. I
always remember the old Missourian. One day he
was talking to me. He lived in the lake of the
Ozarks. Oh, that's beautiful country. That's
beautiful country. The scenery is gorgeous. And
he was telling me about the days when they had
very little. His folks were poor. Their relatives
were poor. The neighbors were all poor. Their
neighbors had no more than they had. And so,
they were just happy poor people, you know. They
were all in the same boat. But they never complained.
There was no dissatisfaction, not really. They
had their cornbread. They had their black -eyed
peas. Oh, sure. In the summertime, the kids went
barefooted. They didn't worry about shoes until
it was time to go to school. Then he said, you
know, we were all... all so contented. It seemed
we were all so happy and everybody got along
so well. There was no complaining and no troubles
and nobody had real problems until the day that
the mail carrier left a mail order catalog at
the neighbor's house. That did it. That did it.
He said after that first mail -order catalog
arrived, nobody has been happy since. He said
that disrupted his family, the neighbor's family,
the families of in -laws. Even the outlaws were
unhappy. everything was serene until that day
the mail carrier left that mail order catalogue
at the neighbor's house he said everybody in
the neighborhood began looking at it first wonderingly
and then longingly and then he said Nobody has
ever been satisfied since. Said it wasn't long
before the people forgot the beauty of the lakes.
They forgot the beauty of the trees that surrounded
them. Instead of sitting outdoors at night for
two or three hours, marveling at God's wonders
in the heavens, he said they all stayed in the
house with the kerosene lamps burning. going
through the mail -order house catalogs, making
themselves miserable at the thoughts of the many
things that they did not possess. Oh, he said,
my wife began nagging me. She saw something she
wanted. He said the kids began begging for things.
He said... It was never the same. And he said,
I tell you, we never had peace at our house after
that. Well, the other day going down the street,
I saw a mother pulling her crying youngster out
of a five and ten cent store. She had the kid
by the hand and he was yelling bloody murder.
I stopped. I thought the youngster was suffering.
I thought, my goodness, the life. This youngster
must be in great pain. You could have heard him
two blocks away. I turned around and looked.
His face was red. Oh, the look on that youngster's
face. One would have thought he had an amputation.
In his hand, he was catching a small toy, just
a little tiny car, little toy. But do you want
to know what was wrong with that youngster? Why
he was screaming and yelling and kicking the
way he was? He was making himself miserable because
he couldn't have all of the other toys in the
store that he had seen, and his mother wouldn't
let him buy them. And because he couldn't have
all of them, he wasn't satisfied with the cute
little toy car that she had just purchased for
him. Yeah, it's like that. You bring a child
a little toy home, he'll be thrilled with it.
He'll love it. He'll play with it for hours,
days. But let him go into the store and see all
the other toys. No matter what you buy, he'll
be unhappy because he can't forget about the
toys that you didn't buy him. And the toys he
couldn't have. It's human nature. A young man
thinks he's in love. He's sure. He's in love
with two young ladies. Oh, I've seen this over
and over again. No matter which one he marries.
And more than one young man has come into the
office and asked my advice and has said, Now,
Miss Kuhlman, would you please help me? I...
I need a little advice. Here's Martha. She's
lovely, so -and -so. I'm sure I love her. And
then there's Anna. She has such sterling qualities.
I think I'm in love with both of them. And I
don't know which one. I love the better. What
do you think I should do? Would you pray with
me about it? I'll say, I know I'm terribly practical
about some of these things, but they're just
some things you use your good common sense about.
No matter which one he marries, no matter what
advice I give him or anyone else gives him, invariably,
he'll go through life making himself miserable
and... The wife, the woman that he married, miserable
too. Because he'll keep thinking that he should
have married the other one. Every time the one
that he married does something he doesn't like
or crosses him in any way, he'll think about
the one that got away. The one that he didn't
marry. Oh, you know what I'm talking about. That's
human nature. We always want the one that got
away. We're always wanting something we don't
have. If you are a part of humanity, this includes
you too. Someone asked one of our great... the
secret of his serene spirit. And he replied,
as I grow older, life becomes simpler because
I see the essentials more clearly in the evening
light of my life. Mm -hmm. All right. Let's go
back to Mama. I guess this is one reason why
all these things are very real and vivid to me.
And why I become so practical about the whole
thing. We usually had a crisis at our house when
I was a youngster. Well, at least once every
two years. And it got so that I usually... Look
forward to it because... And I think Papa did
too. Papa was expecting it, sure. And the crisis
always came every time our furniture company
in Concordia got in a new type of china closet.
Now, Mama just loved her china. Mama just loved...
loved fine china because Aunt Belle would order
it from France and Aunt Belle painted china.
And she and Mama had about the nicest china collection
in the state of Missouri. Mama thought a lot
of her china. And that is one reason why she
doted so on china closets. I think they called
them buffets or whatever they were. Each year,
I got a little more ritzy about what they called
him. But every time there was a new model, Mama
started on Papa. Easy at first, but it wasn't
long before she was nagging him. And we'd sit
down to the dinner table, and Mama would start
on Papa. There was no peace until Mama got the
new model at the furniture store. I was thinking,
I think, Freaking's Furniture Store. And they
always got the biggest and best in because they
knew that Joe Kuman would have to buy it for
Mrs. Kuman. But do you want to know something?
In Mama's later years of life, she never even
saw china closets. Buffets didn't mean anything
to her. It made no difference whether she had
one or not. Even her beautiful china didn't mean
too much. Not really. In her later years, it
meant more to her to have my brother come home
and just sit down by her side on the sofa and
talk with her for an hour or so. Mm -hmm. If
she could have, she would have still held him
on her lap. Sure, that meant more to Mama. than
all the China classes in the world. It's like
that. That was what the bishop meant when he
said, as I grow older, life becomes simpler because
I see the essentials more clearly in the evening
light. We must learn not to make a crisis out
of every unhappy experience, out of everything
that we want and cannot have. We make ourselves
miserable. You make yourself miserable. And you
make everybody around you miserable. These things
are not the essential things. It's far more essential
that you have peace of soul. And after you have
peace of soul, you have peace of mind. If you
aren't careful, it won't be long before you develop
a crisis psychology. Some crisis is always coming
along. We are a part of the human race. There'll
be sickness, financial difficulties, more than
a thousand things. Taxes going up. Crisis in
the family with the children. And when these
things happen, be careful. It won't be long until
you find out that your outer conflicts will destroy
your inner peace. other people that destroy our
peace. Our feelings are hurt. We carry a grudge.
One woman said recently that when she entered
the quiet time of her day to pray, the only thing
she could do when she became quiet was to chew
on her resentments. The time of prayer simply
brought to the surface a nursed grievance. You
will never, never in a thousand years have peace
of mind as long as there is a grievance, a grudge,
an unforgiving spirit in your own heart. The
other person may not know one thing about it,
but as long as you are carrying it in your own
heart, as long as it has become an issue of the
mind, you will never have peace. peace of mind.
There's a scripture that's marvelous. It's found
in 26th chapter of Isaiah, the third verse. Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee. Why? Because he trusteth in thee.
Did you know that the mind rules the body? In
fact, the world in which a man lives is created
out of his own thoughts. That's right. The kind
of world that you live in is created out of your
own thoughts. God knew well the product of his
creation. He knew that if his children will put
perfect trust, perfect confidence in him, their
mind stayed on him, that perfect peace would
be theirs. Knowing that he will take care of
every problem, every need, and... every tomorrow.
If it's just this moment, somehow the Holy Spirit
could get you to commit yourself completely unto
Him. Your thoughts, the world in which you have
created for yourself, committed all unto Him.
Commit this hour unto Him. Commit yourself. Commit
all of your problems, everything to him. Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee. Tell me what is the center of
your mind. Tell me the center of your thought.
Tell me what governs your mind. And I will tell
you what governs you. It's like that. Is there
greed? Is there jealousy? If you're being mastered
by greed, you're the unhappiest person living
this very hour. If you are being governed by
jealousy, you're the most unhappy person that
lives and breathes. If you're jealous of everything
your neighbor gets new, if you're jealous of
your friends, you're being mastered by jealousy.
You're unhappy. If you want real peace, peace
of mind, then, beloved, here's the secret. Thou
will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is
stayed on thee, on the Lord Jesus Christ. For
he is the one who gives you peace of mind and
peace of soul.