Today

So what are you choosing? Does your life look the way you want it to? Or do you find
yourself living in reaction to a series of tough situations, being tossed around from
hazard to hazard like a pinball? This story shows that the kind of life we experience is
really up to us, and it starts with the quality of our choices.
There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed
she had only three hairs on her head. “Well”, she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair
today!” So she did, and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on
her head. “H-M-M,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today!” So she
did, and she had a grand day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair
on her head. “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony-tail.” So she
did, and she had a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single
hair on her head. “YEAH!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”
We have choices about today and our attitude is everything. When we wake up each
day, we can be excited over all we get to do today. We have responsibilities to fulfill
today and we are important. Our job is to choose what kind of day we are going to
have.
TODAY we can complain because the weather is rainy, or we can be thankful that the
grass is getting watered for free.
TODAY we can feel sad that we don’t have more money, or we can be glad that our
finances encourage us to plan our purchases wisely and guide us away from waste.
TODAY we can grumble about our health, or we can rejoice that we are alive.
TODAY we can lament over all that our parents did not provide as we were growing
up, or we can feel grateful that they allowed us to be born.
TODAY we can cry because roses have thorns, or we can celebrate thorns have
roses.
TODAY we can mourn our lack of friends, or we can excitedly embark upon a quest to
discover new relationships.
TODAY we can whine because we have to go to work, or we can shout for joy because
we have a job to go to.
TODAY we can complain because we have to go to school, or eagerly open our mind
and fill it with rich new tidbits of knowledge.
TODAY we can murmur dejectedly because we have to do housework, or we can
appreciate that we have a place to call home.
Today stretches ahead of us, waiting to be shaped. And we are, the sculptor, to do the
shaping. What today will be like is up to us. We choose what kind of day we will have!
This is a time of investment. Investing is about making decisions in the present
that will have a major impact on our future. They often seem to be small
decisions when we are making them, so we don’t spend a lot of time thinking
about them.
Life is a matter of choices, and every choice we make makes us. We are the sum
total of the choices we make. We’re who we are today because of the choices
we’ve made. We always have a choice. Some are lots harder to make than
others. The hardest choices are not between good and bad or right and wrong,
but between two goods or two rights.
Each choice we make impacts our life stories and the stories of those closest to
us. It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
Blessings, Ben