Today Is A Gift

'There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it's easy.'Robert Fritz

By the time you read this today you have already made a myriad of choices.  What time do I get up?  Do I get up at all? What do I wear today? What do I have for breakfast? Do I need a shower (!)  What speed do I drive at? Do I smile at someone I don't know or do I ignore them? Do I start again today or let yesterday rule my thoughts?

Often we do not realise that our everyday, seemingly mundane choices are driven by those things that we have placed at the centre of our life. Things that we live for or on the other hand, refuse to give up. Even indecision is a choice – we can choose not to engage, to get involved, to be interested.

There are choices that we have no control over, what family we are born into, how we are treated by adults when we are children, where we live when we are young, what our neighbourhood is like. But we can choose how much we will let our inheritance govern our future.

We can choose to be different, to do things differently than we were taught, to walk away from bad influences, to forgive, to love when we are hated, to close the door to unhealthy relationships, to move away and start again, to leave the shadows for the light, not to be defined by the words spoken over us as a child or even an adult.

I know from painful experience that these choices are hard and sometimes you have to keep making them. Sometimes you have to choose to be alone rather than in a crowd, to be the one in your family who isn't one of us, to leave the familiarity and comfort of old habits and old places for somewhere you do not know.

Recently, I was watching a movie called ‘Kung Fu Panda' with the kids. In the movie, the panda trains hard to be a Kung Fu master only to fail miserably.  He walks away thinking that he is missing a secret ingredient that will change his destiny.  Later, he finds out that there is no secret ingredient – he is the answer! He realises that the past is gone and today is a gift – that is why it is called the present.

You may look around your life and be at peace with your choices, even if you have experienced loneliness and failure along the way.  You may, however know deep down that you have a choice to make.  That you are at a crossroads.  Today is your gift, today you get to choose what you will do for the rest of your life. God loves you and He will always help you to walk out your choices if you ask. So…

‘Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.'Joshua 1 v9, NIV