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“Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!”
“Never tell me the odds.”
~C-3PO and Han Solo

“Never tell me the odds” is perhaps one of the most memorable quotes from Star Wars. While the delivery was good, the quote is not memorable because of anything particularly special in the delivery or the way it was said. It is memorable because we can all identify with it when we are going through tough, dangerous, or difficult times none of us really want to hear how bad the odds are. We simply need to know that success is possible. Time and time again in countless hero stories almost always one of the common factors is that they faced seemingly insurmountable odds. The other common factor is that they completely defied those odds. How did they do it? Well simple they ignored those odds. Ok so maybe they didn’t actually ignore it. They gave it attention, but only the minimal necessary and it wasn’t their primary focus. They focused on something greater, Star Wars simply called it the force, but in reality it is not simply an impersonal force, but a knowable God who we can focus on.

When a God of heroes comes to mind the God of the Bible seems to emerge as the most logical choice. The God of the Bible is also the God of David (the giant slayer), Samson (superman), Moses (the magician), Elijah (the prophet of fire), etc. If we were to think of a Greek god or some other god would almost seem like the people succeeded in spite of them, those sort of gods seems very malevolent. However all of these real life heroes of the Bible had a close relationship with their God, and while it may seem like they were mythical in aspects its important to ask ourselves what came first the myth or the person. It some instances it is possible the myth may have preceded the person as a sort of foreshadowing. So if the myth, we must ask, do we find uncanny yet inexplicably precise detail, commonalities across myths, real portraits accounts of the men with both the good and the bad, and/or universalism in these myths that seems to transcend cultures. If so, perhaps we ought to consider that just maybe what were seemingly myths are real and realize that we can indeed face our giants if we focus on our even bigger God. Shrinking back is always there waiting for us to default to. Stepping up to the challenges on the other hand takes faith and courage.

This is a very profound yet simple word of wisdom, which I got on my iGoogle words of wisdom gadget today.

The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. – James Allen

While this may seem pretty self expletory there are a couple of important things to keep in mind here.

One calmness of mind should not be mistaken with passivism, for it is not passivism. Rather, it is well thought out and strategically timed bold action executed in accordance with a plan, and not out of desperation. The other thing to keep in mind is that there will from time to time be certain situations that no calmness can master, but can only ease.

This quote is an except from James Allen’s famous work As a Man Thinketh. This quote, along with many other parts of the book explain there is a lot of change that can be affected by positive thinking, however as a final word of caution there are limits on what positive thinking can accomplish.

We do not create reality with our thoughts, nor attract reality, we simply enable God to work through us, as we are nothing more than a vessel that must first act in accordance with our thoughts and enabling for reality to be affected beyond us. Accordingly, this should never be taken to the radial and extremely destructive notions presented in more postmodern works such as The Secret, which postulate that we are all essentially gods and able to create reality through our thoughts. You must have a trust in God and His workings in order to fully benefit from positive thinking.