Did the choices you made today tend towards the light or the dark? Did they add to a trend for the better or simply perpetuate a downward spiral? Did the words you said promote or detract from truth? Towards healing or away from it? Towards victimhood or victory?
We can usually see which way a tree leans. And which way it leans is often the way it will fall. But it does not have to fall that way. There is redemption, healing, and miracles. But we usually have to take that first step in the right direction.
The things we don’t have a choice in are our genetic make-up, our parents, and our childhood environment. But even with these dynamics, we can still choose the outcome. Susceptible to heart disease or diabetes, thanks to genetics? We can undergo screenings more often, adjust our diet, and start exercising. Parents who were less than attentive and perhaps abusive? No doubt these parents leave wounds but we don’t have to be slaves to destiny—through small choices every day we can move towards the light; scars often remain but wounds can be healed.
What is your malady, your struggle, your emotional thorn? Your burr in the saddle, mental fog, besetting sin? Perhaps you have an inkling of what you may need to do to heal, find relief, and find joy. What small choice can you make today, right now, this morning, to start a trend towards the light? Does it mean taking one foot and placing it in front of the other? Maybe taking a short walk, followed by five pushups, followed by a glass of cold water. See, you feel better already.
Here are some more examples: make the choice today to truly listen to your wife, to attend, to look her in the eye and pay attention. Give her your ear and your heart. Try kindness. Wives, try words that speak respect to your husband; words that uplift and upbuild, and tend towards the light.
Or make the choice to follow someone’s advice, one small step at a time—start here and now, one small step. Even if you don’t totally understand, give it a try. That one small step for man could mean one giant step for mankind.
It is in your power today. The choice to say good words, kind words, and words that tend towards the binding up of wounds. Words that soothe a tired, anxious, and beleaguered soul. The choice today to affirm your son and tell him he is enough; the choice to praise your daughter and tell her she’s beautiful. Those small choices tend towards light, healing, and growth. And the lovely thing is: that choice is within your capability. There is no barrier on this earth preventing you from showing and speaking kindness.
Maybe it comes down to your knees. Stubborn knees that don’t like to bend, that find kneeling difficult, humbling, and tiresome. You haven’t prayed in days, or weeks, or months. Maybe years. Today, right now, you can bend those stubborn knees and whisper It’s me, God; I need help. That small act of surrender and those few words tend towards the light and could be the beginning of miracles, changes for the better, and ultimate healing.
The tree often falls the way it leans. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Make choices today that tend towards the light, a new morning, and a brighter day.
BF
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