The Choice Is Yours

The alarm clock just went off… do you hit the snooze button, turn over and go back to sleep, or do you get up and start your day? Do you take the freeway or the surface streets to work today? Are you going to give everything 100% today or just 50%?  Should you have a salad or a bacon cheeseburger for lunch? Will you start college at 53 years old?  …the green dress or the blue suit? Will you try something new today or stick to your same routine?  Do you have the surgery or not? Will you let “it” break you or build you???

From the time we wake up in the morning until the time we fall asleep at night, every day our lives are comprised of a series of choices we make. Think about this for a minute… Everything we say or do is a choice.

Let me share one of my favorite short stories about choices at www.toofunnystorie.com.  “An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire; they could get by. 

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. 

When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, “This is your house… my gift to you.”  The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. 

So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.

But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Your attitude, and the choices you make today, help build the “house” you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, build wisely!”

The carpenter’s attitude played a huge part in the choices he made in building the house. What type of attitude do we have when we make our daily choices? Are we choosing from a place of hurt or a place of healing; of pessimism or optimism; emotion or wisdom?

Although circumstances will enter our lives that we do not choose, we still have the option to choose how we respond to those circumstances. Not all of our choices will be easy, but there is freedom in each choice; not necessarily in the specific choices we make, but in the powerful ability to choose!

So who are you today?  Who do you want to be tomorrow, six months, or a year from now? The Greek philosopher Heraclitus spoke volumes when he said “ The content of your character is what you choose. Day by day what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become.”

 You Choose….