Glenna's Goal Book In 1977 I was a single mother with three young daughters, a house payment, a car payment and a need to rekindle some dreams. One evening I attended a seminar and heard a man speak on the I x V = R Principle. (Imagination mixed with Vividness becomes Reality.) The speaker pointed out that the mind thinks in pictures, not in words. And as we vividly picture in our mind what we desire, it will become a reality. This concept struck a chord of creativity in my heart. I knew the biblical truth that the Lord gives us "the desires of our heart" (Psalms 37:4) and that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7). I was determined to take my written prayer list and turn it into pictures. I began cutting up old magazines and gathering pictures that depicted the "desires of my heart." I arranged them in an expensive photo album and waited expectantly. I was very specific with my pictures. They included: A good-looking man A woman in a wedding gown and a man in a tuxedo Bouquets of flowers (I'm a romantic) Beautiful diamond jewelry (I rationalized that God loved David and Solomon and they were two of the richest men who ever lived) An island in the sparkling blue Caribbean A lovely home New furniture A woman who had recently become vice-president of a large corporation (I was working for a company that had no female officers. I wanted to be the first woman vice-president in that company.) About eight weeks later, I was driving down a California freeway, minding my own business at 10:30 in the morning. Suddenly a gorgeous red-and-white Cadillac passed me. I looked at the car because it was a beautiful car. And the driver looked at me and smiled, and I smiled back because I always smile. Now I was in deep trouble. Have you ever done that? I tried to pretend that I hadn't looked. "Who me? I didn't look at you!" He followed me for the next 15 miles. Scared me to death! I drove a few miles, he drove a few miles. I parked, he parked . . . and eventually I married him! On the first day after our first date, Jim sent me a dozen roses. Then I found out that he had a hobby. His hobby was collecting diamonds. Big ones! And he was looking for somebody to decorate. I volunteered! We dated for about two years and every Monday morning I received a long-stemmed red rose and a love note from him. About three months before we were getting married, Jim said to me, "I have found the perfect place to go on our honeymoon. We will go to St. John's Island down in the Caribbean." I laughingly said, "I never would have thought of that!" I did not confess the truth about my picture book until Jim and I had been married for almost a year. It was then that we were moving into our gorgeous new home and furnishing it with the elegant furniture that I had pictured. (Jim turned out to be the West Coast wholesale distributor for one of the finest Eastern furniture manufacturers.) By the way, the wedding was in Laguna Beac Excerpted from Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit by Jack L. Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Jack Canfield All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
