Each Day...I Choose

I purchased this book for a friend.

I love giving gifts that I feel will be appreciated or used.

However, I wouldn't mind keeping this one for myself. :)

Before wrapping it up tonight, I read through the first couple of pages and felt myself weeping.

Max Lucado, your words penetrate.

But Jesus, your entire being of who you are cuts right to my core!

I have to share the very words on paper that transformed my perspective on everyday life.

I pray you too feel the sudden urge to fall to your knees.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Each day...

It's quiet. It's early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming. In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the nosie of the day. The calms of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day's demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I'm free to overcome. And so I choose.

I CHOOSE LOVE.

No occassion justifies hatred;

no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love.

Today I will love God and what God loves.

I CHOOSE JOY.

I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance.

I will refuse the temptation to be cynical...

the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see

people as anything less than human beings

created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as

anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I CHOOSE PEACE.

I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I CHOOSE PATIENCE.

I will overlook the inconveniences of the world.

Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I'll

invite him in to do so. Rather than complain that the

wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment

to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new

assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I CHOOSE KINDNESS.

I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone

Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to

the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I CHOOSE GOODNESS.

I will go without a dollar

before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked

before I will boast. I will confess before I will

accuse. I choose goodness.

I CHOOSE FAITHFULNESS.

Today I keep my promises.

My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates

will not question my word. My wife will not

question my love. And my children will never fear

that their father will not come home.

I CHOOSE GENTLENESS.

Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle.

If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.

If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.

If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I CHOOSE SELF-CONTROL.

I am a spiritual being.

After my body is dead, my spirit will soar.

I refuse to let what will not, rule the eternal.

I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy.

I will be impassioned only by my faith.

I will be influenced only by God.

I will be taught only by Christ.

I choose self control.

Love, joy peace patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

To these I commit my day.

If I succeed, I will give thanks.

If I fail, I will seek his grace.

And then, when this day is done,

I will place my head on my pillow

and rest.

-----------------Max Lucado "When God Whispers Your Name"---------------------

Thank you Max!

No words suffice for my gratefulness toward your openness.

I am changed!

May we go and never forget all that which we are not and strive to be all that which he says we are!

The world's trash but His treasure.

Forever evolving...

His greatest creation.