The 9-year-old boy’s eyes widened with wonder as the little gray figure on the screen slowly stepped out of the shadowy lunar module. Even though the picture was fuzzy, the shadows of the TV broadcast made the sight all the more intriguing. The awe of seeing the first man on the moon not only sent his heart racing, but also filled his head with inspiring dreams of space travel. Could he really become an astronaut? The astronaut dream seemed so distant for a pre-teen boy living in Ontario. His home country didn’t even have a space program at the time, but he decided that from that night forward he would start preparing to be an astronaut (Hadfield 3). He immediately began working hard at his grades, he worked hard at his farm chores, he focused on studying mathematics, he read whatever he could on space travel (Hadfield 4-6). Young Chris Hadfield focused his life around his dreams of being an astronaut. And all his dreams and work eventually paid off when he stepped aboard the space shuttle Atlantis twenty-seven years later (Hadfield 26). His thinking had transformed his living. This is a real-life example of how thinking affects our actions. The Bible highlights this point with an analogy in Proverbs 23: “Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. ‘Eat and drink!’ he says to you, but his heart is not with you.” In this text, the author is pointing out that a person’s conduct proceeds from his/her thoughts, not necessarily his/her words. The thoughts are the origins of their actions and so a person’s dreams, values, mindset, and view of the world ultimately determine what kind of life he/she lives. Becoming a Christian isn’t just about mental or physical discipline—we can only follow Christ because of God’s power working out His will in our lives. But even our choice to follow Christ ultimately begins in our thoughts.
Hadfield, Chris. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth. Toronto, Ontario: Random House Canada, 2013. Print.