Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXCV

Okay, I admit it. I was wrong. I'll explain later, but first I need to set up a foundation so you'll understand what I mean. I have family and friends who are employed in the medical field, including a pharmacist, an anesthetist, and one who works for a heart surgeon, and they can all vouch for what I'm about to say. Many of their clients could have avoided the situations they're facing now if they had made better choices concerning their lifestyles in their younger years. Everyone of us have to make choices multiple times on a daily basis, about all aspects of our lives. Even the decision not to choose is a choice. We live in a free country and we are free to choose to do whatever we want to do. Even if the law doesn't allow it, we can choose to violate the law. Where our freedom ends is where the consequences of our choices begin. Depending on how we choose, we will either face the consequences or reap the rewards of our choice. There's just something about sound of the word "reward" that I like better than the sound of the word "consequence." Today, it is our choice if we want to forgive or hold a grudge, smile or frown, tell the truth or exaggerate, to save money or waste it, to exercise or be lazy, to be positive or negative, or to wallow in self pity or get up and make something of our lives. And get ready, because the rewards or consequences will be sure to follow. Life happens to all of us, and each of us has the choice of how we're going to deal with it. One of my close friends is a fifty year old man named Phil Parker, and five years ago Phil was lying in a hospital bed, not knowing if he would ever walk again. Things that come natural even to the youngest among us, Phil had to re-learn at the age of forty-five, such as swallowing. He was suffering from a rare stroke that hits men in their forties, and if ever there was a man who had an excuse to have a pity party and sing "Oh Poor Pitiful Me," it was him. Instead, on the day that I'm writing this, this same Phil Parker ran his first full marathon (26.2 miles), finishing in less than five hours. With his faith in God and a determination of steel, he picked himself up and did the unthinkable. His result was a reward and not a consequence of a choice he made. Now for my admission: I used to say a man has no control over his thoughts, but I was wrong about that. I was under the impression that thoughts just pop into our heads and there's nothing we can do to stop them, but there was something I wasn't thinking about when I said that. It's Philippians 4:8 that says, "Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things." If we were unable to control our thoughts, why would that verse be in the Bible? It would be a wasted scripture. My point is, we can even choose what we think. Am I going to be positive or negative today? It's my choice. Am I an optimist or a pessimist? That's for me, and only me, to choose. Can I get myself out of the funk I may find myself in? I can if I choose to do so. Sure, thoughts of jealousy, rage, evil, lust, and self pity may pop into my head, but if I do them like I do the weeds that spring up in my garden and pluck them out, I can control them. One friend told me just this morning, "I can't help what I see, but I can choose what I look at." The same concept works with our thoughts. I'm a good man, a winner, successful, and an overcomer, because it's what I choose to be. Preston