"Choices"
(Author Unknown)
Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and
always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was
doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He
was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there
telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael
and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the
time. How do you do it?"
Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have
two choices today.
You can choose to be in a good mood or . . . you can choose to be in a bad
mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can
choose to be a victim or . . . I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn
from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept
their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the
positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When
you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react
to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a
good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your
life."
I reflected on what Michael said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry
to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I
made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious
accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of
surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with
rods placed in his back.
I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he
was, he replied. "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my
scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone
through his mind as the accident took place.
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my
soon-to-be-born daughter," Michael replied. "Then, as I lay on the
ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or . . . I
could choose to die. I chose to live."
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Michael
continued, ". . . the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was
going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions
on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I
read 'he's a dead man.' I knew I needed to take action."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said
Michael.
"She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors
and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and
yelled, 'Gravity.' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live.
Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"
Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his
amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live
fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
"But let him ask in faith, with no
doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the
wind." (James 1:6 NKJV)
As Believers in Jesus, we are . . .
In His Grip . . .
By His Grace . . .
For His Glory . . .
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