The Opportunity Was There...

The other night we had some family pictures taken. It'd been a long time, about 7 years, since the last time and the opportunity came up, so we took advantage of it. We got to the gym while the family before us was finished so the kids and I played a little basketball and dodge ball and volleyball. Yes, we were all dressed up, and yes, it was really hot, but the opportunity was there, so we took advantage of it. The pictures were for the church directory, but since they were taken by a photo studio, we had Misty join us for some complete family pictures. We took some of the family, and then some of kids, and then one of Nanci and me. When the kids were posing for their pictures, I was overcome with how blessed we are. We have three, really gorgeous, very photogenic kids. Did I mention that they are really terrific kids as well, most of the time?

How often do we get caught up in our own activities, our own lifes, our own minds and forget about taking the time to look around us and really appreciate what we have? Well, the opportunity was there, so I did. I'm blessed with a wife who really loves me. I'm blessed with kids who started life with very little but pain and ugliness and now have love and beauty. I'm blessed with an extended family who are all pretty terrific people. I'm blessed with a job that is very secure. I'm blessed with people who truly care about me and my well being, and not those who just say that they are (and I can tell the difference). I'm blessed with a mind that is always learning. I'm blessed with a body that can get out of bed every morning, 365 days a year, with barely a sniffle now and again and a few times a week lets me run several miles to start my day. I'm blessed with a great home, that's pretty much just the way we want it now. I'm blessed with a bank account that increases monthly. I am truly blessed. And why did I sit and think about all of this?

The opportunity was there, so I did it. Needs to be done every now and again, and it sure feels good when it is. Take the opportunity and do it yourself.

What Is My Destiny?

Do we make our own destiny? I think we do, up to a point, with the choices we make, the decisions we make, every moment of every day. We could choose to walk in front of a truck, thus ending our life. We could choose to eat healthy and exercise and perhaps live much longer lives. I say perhaps, because we can't choose when we die, unless we take our own lives. I believe that only God knows that and there's not much we can do about it. However, what happens between now and then, it's all up to us. We move forward with our lives and create our existence. In one of the books I've been reading, it says that everything that is here was first just a thought. Thought brings action which brings reality. Therefore, our thinking brings about our reality. Can we think ourselves great? Of course. Can we do the actions that will make us great? Of course. Can we decide that we don't want to let lifes hurts keep us down? Of course. There are enough examples of individuals who have gone above and beyond what the world said they should have done, just as there are plenty of examples of individuals who never fulfilled their potentials. Some say that if you want to be successful, do what successful people do. it's been proven time and time again. So do I think we make our own destiny? Yes.

Free Will

Did you know that the Lutheran Church says we don't have free will? It's a theological thing. Not sure what it all means but I think I'll have to take it up with someone and have them really explain it to me. In looking into a little bit, it seems that since God, being all knowing, knows what we are going to do before we do it, so the choice isn't really ours and there is no free will, 'cause that means that God has no control over us.

To my way of thinking, when we were given choices, we were given free will to choose. Sure, some of those choices, well all of those choices, come with consequences, either good or bad, but it's our choice, our free will, and our consequences. If you keep God first and foremost, then you'd most likely choose on the side of good, but so often we choose based on what's going on with us at that time; who we're with, what mood we're in, etc. Eve chose to eat the apple and Adam chose to go along with her. Cain chose to kill Able, and so on. I feel that God gave us choices to empower us. God wants us to better ourselves, to prove ourselves. We do that with the choices that we make.

The other day I was at the grocery store. A man with 3 kids came up to me and pointing at the floor asked it that was my $100 bill. I thanked him and told him it wasn't but that I would turn it in to the store manager, which I did. We both made a choice. He did the right thing in front of his children, teaching them right. When I turned the money in, the manager took my name and number and said if no one claimed it, it would be mine. That wasn't right either, since I wasn't the first one to find it. I got the first man's number and told him that if the manager called, I'd have him call him and give him the money. An easy choice since it was never my money to begin with. Turns out someone did claim the money so it went back to the original owner. My choices were easy. I didn't find the money and I didn't lose the money. It would have been wrong for me keep the money. Free will? Yes, I freely and willfully turned the money in. Did God know that I was going to do that? Sure, but it was still my choice.

We're here to learn lessons. We're here to live consequences. Not every choice is the right one, or the smart one, but if we learn from it, then it was the worthwhile one. I can't see a God who dictates every thing we do. We don't do that as parents. Now, I'm not saying we are as all powerful and all knowing and all loving as God, but we know enough to let our children make mistakes and learn from them, even when we know in advance what they're going to do...because we mostly, in free will, did the same things ourselves.

Are you a Cause or an Effect person?

Read this quote the other day -


You alone have the responsibility to shape your life. Once you understand this, nothing and no one can deny you success. There's no one to stop you but yourself.


Then, I was listening to Christopher Howard and he said there were cause people and effect people. Effect people seem to always have an excuse for not getting, not having, etc. and it usually involves someone or something outside of themselves. Cause people make things happen, 'cause the know that if it's going to be, it's up to them.

It got me thinking about my life. I am where I am today because of the decisions I make years ago. Did I have a plan. Not really. Am I where I want to be. Mostly. Why don't I have everything I want? My fault. You know, "those that fail to plan, plan to fail" and all that...Is it too late? Absolutely not. In 5 years, God willing, I will be 5 years older. Will I be doing the same things I'm doing now? It's up to me. The path I put myself on right now will determine where I am 5 years from now. If I'm not where I want to be, whose fault will it be? Mine. Yeah, I could say that it was my family that held me back, or we had to get the kids' school paid for, etc., but those are just excuses. If I set my mind to it, and dedicated bits of every day to doing something that will move me closer, I'll be there in 5 years - right where I want to be. Oprah Winfrey said, "Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility."

It's all there for you. So, are you a 'cause or an effect person?