We Choose

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope & trust this post finds you all having a great day on this beautiful new opportunity that is beginning to dawn! :)

This morning I want to put some more tools in our toolboxes to help us build the masterpiece we are each creating - the life we live! Just as a hammer does not drive a nail by itself, the thoughts and ideas that I will share are useless unless the carpenters - that us!!! :) - utilize them for the purposes they were intended. You and I get to choose Sweet Friends...we WILL choose! :)

I want to start off by sharing an excerpt from an article that appeared in an IndyStar article on December 5, 2018. The article is titled, Tyler Trent: Here's why I'm grateful this holiday season. Tyler, who last night won the Disney Spirit Award at the College Football Awards, is a twenty-year old sophomore at Purdue University. He is currently undergoing bone cancer treatment. 2 1/2 months ago, his doctors gave him 3 months to live. Here is a part of what Tyler had to say:

"Though I am in hospice care and have to wake up every morning knowing that the day might be my last, I still have a choice to make: to make that day the best it can be. To make the most of whomever comes to visit, texts, tweets or calls me.

Yet, isn't that a choice we all have every day? After all, nobody knows the amount of days we have left. Some could say we are all in hospice to a certain degree.

So why don't we act like it? Where is your gratitude? With Christmas coming, what are you thankful for? I had to write my will recently, and I'm just thankful I can give my family Christmas presents, maybe even for one last time. Let's not forget that my doctors gave me three months to live almost two-and-a-half months ago. So why can't we live grateful lives? Why can't we make every day count like it's the last?"

Wow!!! Anyone else feel like they have been hit right between the eyes with a 2 x 4!!! Unbelievable...

Three things really jumped out at me:
1. "...a choice to make: to make that day the best it can be." We might not be in the circumstances or situations we want - I am fairly certain that if he could choose, Tyler would not choose this...come to think of it, didn't Jesus pray for His situation to change? - however we still get to choose to make the day the best it can be. Wow!!!

2. "To make the most of whomever comes to visit, texts, tweets or calls me." I haven't ever thought of it that way, have you? To make the most of whomever is right there, in the moment. What if we approached the calls, visits, texts, etc. from our spouses, children, friends or as Tyler says, "whomever," like that? To "make the most of them." What a different world we would live in!

3. "Some could say we are all in hospice to a certain degree." Never thought of it but he is exactly right! Each one of us is a day closer to our last on this earth. Maybe we are not in an actual hospice facility or on home hospice but in reality, we are all in hospice. If you look up the definition of hospice it says, "a home providing care for the sick or terminally ill." I think that kinda describes us all - sick or terminally ill. We know that none of our earthly bodies will live forever and we also know that we do not know which day or hour will be our last. As Tyler said, "So why don't we act like it?"

The toolbox is getting full this morning! One more thing I feel convicted to share this morning. Last Sunday my Beautiful Bride and I were watching a sermon online. The Pastor had a guest on stage who is blind. They were talking about his "disability" - I put that in quotes because we are ALL disabled in something, to some degree...we just don't all realize it!!! :) - and how he feels about it. People feel sorry for him, say "awww" when they hear he is blind, etc. The thing is, this gentleman does not see it as a curse but rather a blessing. He knows he is blind and needs to rely on the Lord while many of us with physical sight are completely blind and have no clue! Let that sink in for a moment Sweet Friends! Every last one of us is "sick," "broken," and in hospice care...in some way, to some degree or another. And yet each and every day we get to choose to rely on the Lord and seek true sight, to make each day the best it can be and to make the most of whomever is before us! :)

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.

Kev