I Choose

It’s quiet here in our home where I sit. The sun is still below the horizon. It’s cold out. There is frost on the windows. The streets are still. No dogs bark; no cats meow. Few birds are up and about their business yet.

I think about my day.

I plan.
     I dream.
          I speculate.

Soon it will be time to choose.

My feet, my automobile could take me a dozen places today.
I could visit some less-than-righteous places if I choose. I could speak words that are harmful to someone.



I could read material that is demeaning, harmful, causing less than uplifting thoughts.

I could choose these things you know.

I know some people – I call them friends – and they are of a different culture from me. I could think less of them just because they think differently. I could show a severe attitude of distrust, even hatred just because they are different. I could belittle them, ignore them, talk down to them, and hate them.

I could call someone up and give them a large slice of my mind for offending me in some way. I could do that.

I could cheat someone out of a financial gain today. I could pay less, or complain in hopes of getting something more in return, if I choose to.

I could lie to my wife; I could mislead her and perhaps she would never discover the truth. But I know the truth. I could do this if I choose.

I could cheat my employer today. I could take less that great care of the customers that enter our door. I could do less than my best on projects. I could lie to a customer or two simply to make sure their purchase gives me a financial advantage; regardless of what is best for them. I could choose that approach if I wanted to.


INSTEAD!


I choose good, wholesome thoughts, honest dealings, sincere and esteeming words and actions.

Allow me to let the words of St. Francis of Assisi to say what is in my heart.

     Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
     Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
     Where there is injury, pardon.
     Where there is doubt, faith.
     Where there is despair, hope.
     Where there is darkness, light.
     Where there is sadness, joy.


     O Divine Master,
     Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
     To be understood, as to understand;
     To be loved, as to love.
     For it is in giving that we receive.
     It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
     And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

I choose this today.

Tomorrow …

If for some reason I missed the mark today, tomorrow I will purpose to correct my course. New beginnings are a gift. Every day is a chance for a new beginning.

Tomorrow I will make choices that are good and wise as I purpose to do today.

After all, our greatest power is To Choose!!!