Life = Choices

Life is one choice or series of choices right after another, all with varying consequences. I struggle grasping how people live this life without Jesus, but that’s a whole other topic that I’m pretty sure I’ve touched on before.

Sometimes, the consequences can be life-altering. I get lost in thinking about these on occasion. When I’m mature enough, I can see the positive possibilities. Still, my tendency is to think of the injustice at times. For example, I ponder why the person driving the tractor picked the very moment I need to be in a different city. When I’m not mature, I think about the inconvenience; however, when I stop and think about it, sometimes I’m able to see other possibilities such as maybe by driving 5-10 MPH, I’m avoiding a later catastrophe that I might not have otherwise avoided.

I cannot always see the possibilities or the connections in the moment. Most of the time for me, it takes thinking back.

This morning, I was fulfilling full-on “dad duties” in running my kids to their respective schools since my wife had to travel for her school. I got behind a Knox county van with a (gasp) Mississippi State license plate holder.

Check out this train of thought, though. Full disclosure: I did not get into grad school right away. My GRE test scores were pretty terrible. I had to take it twice to improve it. (That’s a common theme in my life—retaking major tests with the exception of the NCE.) I remember quoting from the GRE bulletin how the test basically measures how well people take that test. There were a lot of thought that went along with not getting into grad school right away: “not good enough,” “failure,” “stupid,” etc. Well, I did improve my score and considered the following schools: Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State University, and (you guessed it) Mississippi State. The last one is difficult to admit because I’m an Ole Miss and UTK fan (yes, you can be both).

Watch this closely. Had I got into grad school right away, my whole world would have been different. Because of that delay, I had some life-changing events take place. I worked in a factory and saved money. As a result, I was able to travel to Europe with one of my favorite professors. On a smaller scale, I went to Dragon Con in Atlanta with some friends where I met and heard some pretty famous people. Finally, I did get into grad school at MTSU.

My time at MTSU was definitely a growth period. I undoubtedly made many stupid, bad decisions chock full of their own consequences. But, I’m grateful somewhere around October 1997 to have joined Yahoo Personals. I had never done anything like that. Frankly, online dating was taboo then. Thanks be to God, I met this little redhead girl (thanks, Charlie). About a year later, we married. At the time of writing, we celebrate 23 years of marriage tomorrow.

If your go-to is negativity, try reframing it. Look at the other possibilities. Look at the bigger picture. If you connect the dots after the fact, so what? At least you connected them! If nothing else, do your best to choose gratitude.

So, as you might imagine, I am so grateful I did not get into grad school when I wanted, that my life took (at that time, what felt like) a derailment of my plans. I look at it like this: God had better plans, which reminds me of Proverbs 16:9. My world would be drastically lonelier, less interesting, and must less fulfilled. With my wife, we have our family. Over the past year and a half, I realized just how lucky I am. I owe all of this to God and my wife. To my wife: Happy (early) Anniversary! I love you! Thank you for your lack of tact, your spontaneity, and your Dory moments. I am so grateful for you; I’m proud of you; thank you for loving me and giving me the best moments I’ve experienced.

#Jesus #wife #choices #plans #reframe #positivity #gratitude #anniversary #education #life #connectthedots #YahooPersonals