We have Choices

Ume was the kind of guy you would love to hate. I recall the day my school Identity card went missing. I was down in class as I really needed it, but he was there making a joke out of it. I practically hated him and felt to harm him where he stood - well I could not. He was plus size and his fist could dip me in the ground at close range.

Despite this, Ume was ALWAYS in a good mood and could turn your serious moments into funny ones. He was loving to life and spoke positivity.

Ume was my class governor at the time. He was a unique class representative because he had several classmates of ours who followed him around. The reason why we followed him was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If a student was having a bad day, Ume was there telling the student to look on the positive side of the situation.

 

Seeing this style of life really made me curious so one day, I went up to Ume and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all the time. How do you do it?

Ume smiled with his regular face and explained to me that each morning, he wakes up, looks into the mirror and says to himself,

"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."

He further said that doing this every morning, he had come to believe and live in the consciousness that each time something bad happens, he could choose to be a victim or instead choose to learn from it. Surprisingly, he always chooses to learn from it. In the same way, every time someone comes to him complaining, he could choose to accept their complaints or instead, point out the positive side of life.

I looked stern at Ume, protesting how uneasy it was to always be positive even in the face of worse decisions. At this point, his face looked like he had taught all he could about the matter to me. He merely smiled and walked away.

Now, I do not need to be tutored. In the coming days after I spoke with him, I learnt so much in the reality of what he had explained to me. If for nothing, the reason why you have the choice to choose positivity is to maintain your individual happiness. Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation becomes a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood.

Wherever you are in life, is the perfect place for you to be; for every single decision and every single choice you have ever made has brought you to this very place; for here, there is something for you to learn. God has positioned choices for everyman and would never want you to choose wrongly too. God's words says His plans for you are of good and not evil to give and assure us a future and a hope. This is why there is always a struggle with your will, and in other cases, conscience.

The problem of mankind is a "copy-cat" one. Many times, we merely want to become something because another has achieved same things, especially with time limits. But then we usually do not map out that when time places obstacles in our path we have two choices- either we curse our fate or figure out bravely, what to do. So, when people are digging gold and diamond and you start selling shovels, you are not selling because you do not know how to dig, but because it may be the best choice for you at the time, especially if you are feeble. Also, you are significant because the diggers would need the shovels to dig in the long run.

You must not do the same thing everyone is doing. Do something else or better still, do the same thing in a different way. That is distinction and choice. There is a scale of preference, opportunity cost and most especially, choice.

In all, the bottom line remains that "It's your choice how you live life" God's plans and purpose still directs. Leave the stage when it's not yours... Let God have it and help you choose.