I added, “If A. B. is the right man you can’t lose him, and if he isn’t, you will receive his equivalent.” She saw A. B. frequently but no headway was made in their friendship. One evening she called, and said, “Do you know, for the last week, A. B. hasn’t seemed so wonderful to me.” I replied, “Maybe he is not the divine selection—another man may be the right one.” Soon after that, she met another man who fell in love with her at once, and who said she was his ideal. In fact, he said all the things that she had always wished A. B. would say to her.
She remarked, “It was quite uncanny.”
She soon returned his love, and lost all interest in A. B.
This shows the law of substitution. A right idea was substituted for a wrong one, therefore there was no loss or sacrifice involved.
Jesus Christ said, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” and he said the Kingdom was within man.
The Kingdom is the realm of right ideas, or the divine pattern.
Jesus Christ taught that man’s words played a leading part in the game of life. “By your words ye are justified and by your words ye are condemned.”
Many people have brought disaster into their lives through idle words.
For example: A woman once asked me why her life was now one of poverty of limitation. Formerly she had a home, was surrounded by beautiful things and had plenty of money. We found she had often tired of the management of her home, and had said repeatedly, “I’m sick and tired of things—I wish I lived in a trunk,” and she added: “Today I am living in that trunk.” She had spoken herself into a trunk. The subconscious mind has no sense of humor and people often joke themselves into unhappy experiences.
For example: A woman who had a great deal of money, joked continually about “getting ready for the poorhouse.”