Greetings friends!  At this hour in my little town outside of Dallas, it is still a sweltering 94 degrees outside after reaching another 100+ degree day, a stretch that has gone on uninterrupted for over a month now.  So – along with my greetings, I hope you all are staying cool.

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve written, mostly because any topic that has come to mind has almost seemed too big to put into words.  I still feel that way while I sit here to compose this note, but I am determined to at least poke through these words jumping around in my head and hope to make the best sense possible out of it.  Tonight I want to address the power of choice in our lives.  As Americans, we always like to talk about our freedoms – and those freedoms are typically filled with choices.

Choice invokes so many dimensions in our lives – time, love, spirituality, family, self, etc.  For some people, choices are paralyzing.  For others, choices are the spice of life.  We see people all around us who seem to routinely make poor decisions when presented with choices…perhaps in one or all of those dimensions.  We also see folks who seem to have the Midas touch – with every choice they make turning into the proverbial gold.  And somewhere in that spectrum – from zero to hero – we find ourselves a product of the decisions we’ve made in our own lives…a product of our daily choices to act/not act, to be/not be, to have/not have, to do/not do.  When our introspection leads us to the conclusion that we’re not exactly where we hoped to be, we then question our ability to make good decisions when presented with all those choices…and this, my dear friends, is a sad waste of time.

The 19th century minister and author, Henry Van Dyke, once wrote: “Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity.”

Think about each one of those phrases.  How long have you waited for things to turn your direction – only to find day after day, month after month, and year after year passing you by while you continue to sit wondering the same thing?  On the other hand, how quickly have things you feared manifested into reality almost immediately – the anxiety of such moments building into sheer panic before the reality sets in?

A dear friend of mine on Facebook posted a sweet note about the loss of her father this week.  That brought back my own grief from my own experiences…some 23 years later after my own father passed.  Lara undoubtedly loved, and continues to love her father as I do mine…but there’s no doubt that time is way too long for those of us who grieve.

Too short for those who rejoice?  How often do you find yourself waiting “for the other shoe to fall” because things seem to be going too well?  Is that any way to rejoice?

What if somebody told you one day that you could choose to experience things differently?  Would you say, “Great, another choice…” – or would you be interested?  A few years ago I stumbled across an idea that had been planted in me since early childhood…but it was disguised to me until recent months.  Many of you will remember the craze behind the book “The Secret” (stop rolling your eyes).  There was another book I read by the recommendation of one of you called “The 4 Agreements”.  Both of these, and many other books sold in self-help shelves around the bookstores of America push the idea of people taking control of their choices.  And in taking control of those choices, people could actually impact their experiences.

Friends, I’ve got news for you…this stuff isn’t new.  No author of the past century found some fancy new realization…no “secrets” have been revealed that suddenly hand us the key of life.  Even the Bible has it in several passages about “reaping what we sow” (Galatians 6:7, Job 4:8, Hosea 10:13, 2 Corinthians 9:6, etc).  I list so many references to say that no single human author of any of the books of the Bible can lay claim to this concept.  THIS IS LIFE – this is the way things work.

It is about no longer waiting for things to turn your direction, but looking at everything as if the tide has already changed.  It is about no longer living in fear – but instead living in confidence that things are going to be okay and living in the moment.  It is about grieving for a healthy period of time, but then rejoicing for that thing or person that entered your life for the time, love, and lessons it provided you while it was in your presence.

Most of all, it is about what Van Dyke said in the last phrase of his comment…finding that timeless eternity of love.

If you want to be happy…choose it.
If you want to be successful…choose it.
If you want to be loved…choose it.
If you want to be free – free from pain, worry, fear, etc., yes…even those monsters…choose it.

Am I enough of a child that I believe I can live the rest of my life without pain, worry, fear, etc?  No, probably not.  Emotions are a part of life…but all of us CAN CHOOSE to manage those emotions.  So my choice now when I face any of those demons is to look at them as learning experiences.  And I’ve noticed that the faster I can turn my thoughts to managing those emotions, the faster I get to my own personal happiness.

I was asked at the office the other day why I was so happy…simple…I choose happiness.  And for those who know me, you know I’ve had a rough few years – but you know what?  So have all of you…so has everybody on earth.  I can always find as many folks who’ve had worse times as I can folks who’ve had better times.  It’s the reality of the old saying “we all have our crosses to bear.” People analyze their personal situations every day – sometimes with relativity to those they know or read about, sometimes with relativity to personal goals, sometimes with relativity to experiences in their own lives, etc.

Take it from the guy whose brother gifted him a flashy ceramic pencil-holder that says “my spreadsheets kick ass” (an obvious knock to my expertise in being overly analytical), it’s a whole heck of a lot easier to just choose to be happy – a lesson I’ve learned from a couple of really great siblings and their spouses…as well as having learned it from some really great friends in my life.

I can tell you with certainty that for me personally, I’d rather spend my time on the timeless eternity of love than have pain, worry, and fear.

How about you?

God bless you all
Tim