Your Choice

It’s your choice!

Will you wallow in the darkness, or look up to the light?

With all the “yuck” that’s going on in the world today, it’s so easy to get down, to feel depressed, and to wallow in the darkness of life. With the availability of bad news at every turn in the road or at every click of a button, it is impossible not to hear and be touched by the trials of our times.

But do we hear and see just as easily – right before our eyes, the light, the beauty, the good, the honorable, the sweet and pure? It’s there, you know. In fact, it’s easier to see because it’s in our own back yards.

A friend recently sent me a captivating video clip of an older Marine veteran singing the Star Spangled Banner. He sang the forth verse.

“Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

And the Star - Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

That gentleman singing with no accompaniment but with a heart full of love for his country demonstrated an elegance of the soul that shines through when any man looks at the light.

I recently saw a beautiful smile on the face of a single mom who is struggling to raise her son with joy and gratitude for the life God has given her. When you ask her how she’s doing, her response is always a heartfelt, “just wonderful.” Life isn’t easy for this precious woman, but she chooses to bask in the light of her young son’s bright smile.

The brilliant sun is bringing warmth today. The cat is stretched out in the sun, shining through the living room window. The horses are out in the corral soaking in the sunshine. Animals revel in the light, the sunshine.  This morning when I went out to feed the horses, our gelding, Marshall, put his head down against my leg and asked to be rubbed. He nuzzled my furry hat and stood there, not moving, just being close, even though he had to be hungry. How can you not see the beauty and the wonder in that?
Breakfast today was Cream of Wheat for me and grits for Ron - simple, warming, comfort food.  On a day like today, Cream of Wheat was a gourmet feast.

There are so many other demonstrations of “the good” that come to my thoughts right now, the love of my husband and children, my granddaughter’s telephone call yesterday (she’s only 11), the beautiful view outside my window and . . . I could go on and on. Of course there are people who would say, “boy, she’s easily entertained” and maybe I am, but for me it’s a choice. I choose to be delighted with life. I choose to see the beauty. I choose to look at the light..