One Good Choice

I am having a problem with control. I mean, I never really thought about it much before, but now with the Coronavirus making such a huge impact on our lives, it’s obvious that we really don’t have much control over anything in this world. And I have a problem with that because it can be really hard and frustrating to feel out of control.

Here’s an example of something else besides the virus that I can’t control. My wife and I recently moved from our tiny beach cottage on the sand to a larger duplex home, taking the unit on top. One of the benefits is that we don’t have to keep worrying about the waves attacking our home because now we are upstairs. Well, wouldn’t you know it, on Thursday of this week,  the tide was so high, and the moon was so full, and the waves were so strong, that they bounced off the huge boulders in front of our house and flew all the way up onto our balcony and through the screen door into our house. There wasn’t much damage, but still it made me realize that we don’t have any control over the wind, the waves, or anything else related to mother nature.

After that happened two nights in a row, I really started feeling like my life was out of control. I’m stuck at home most of the time, I can’t see my kids or my grand kids, I can’t visit my friends, I can’t work hardly at all so there’s no money coming in, and I can’t even watch sports on TV because there aren’t any sports. My world is completely out of control!

Or is it? As I was mopping the rocks and debris off my upper deck, I slipped and fell hard. It hurt, but it was also pretty funny because it dawned on me that I am “on my ass” because mother nature decided I needed to be shown that she is in control and not me. And that’s when I got it! I accept that I may not be in control of everything, but I definitely have control over the most important things in life… because I have the power of choice!

·         I can choose to laugh when life knocks me down.

·         I can choose to cry when I feel sad.

·         I can choose to sing when my heart feels happy.

·         I can choose to forgive when I have been wronged.

·         I can choose to love rather than hate.

·         And most important of all… I can choose to have faith in God no matter what happens to me.

And that got me thinking… I guess I really am in control!

Giant waves attack our second story balcony

One good choice for eternity can offset 

a thousand bad ones on earth.

~ Max Lucado