Better or Bitter
If you read my blog then you already know that I've been preparing for an upcoming bowhunt to Colorado. When I think about this opportunity, I can't help but recognize the awesome blessings in my life, that this is one of them. I can't help but recognize that God has given me so much. And so I told Jenelle, “man, I feel so blessed!”
And just so you don't start thinking, “oh look at you, Mr Mighty Man, you think you are so great and that you are blessed because you are great”. Well let me just say that I've had those same thoughts about others from time to time too, especially when they start telling me how blessed they are. So, sorry for the annoyance but no, I don't feel blessed because of how great I am, and no, I'm not writing my feelings to brag. Instead, I hope that my thoughts can help you feel blessed because there's nothing better than having those feelings. I think that the reason I feel blessed is because I choose to recognize the good things in my life even when things aren't perfect. And trust me, things aren't always perfect or exactly the way that I would like for them to be. I have had plenty of opportunities to call “not fair”. But for right now, I have so many good things going on that I just have to say it, I'm feeling blessed.
To keep your attention, let me just jump to the point and say that I believe that every one of us was created for a purpose of some sort, and the situation that you find yourself in can be used for that purpose. You can't always change your circumstances, but you can decide if they will make you bitter or better.
Last week a friend at work showed me a post from a guide service in Alaska that was looking for a couple of guys to go into the bush and to clear a landing strip so that they could fly hunters into the wilderness to hunt. Everything would be provided for, plus they would pay you at least a little . What an opportunity! Thirty-five years ago, I would have been on top of that!
It would be easy for me to say that things like that don't happen to me, that I missed my boat and even though I dream of hunting moose with my longbow in Alaska, flying in with a couple of friends, setting up camp, hunting and fishing and hanging out, it will probably never happen for me. I love reading about the guys that do it and watching them on YouTube. But everything has a price and because of the cost factor, I'm fairly certain that I will never get the opportunity to do that . I could be bitter about that, but it's ok, I choose not to. It's good to have things in our lives that are just out of reach. It can be something that we can try to figure out how to make it happen or better yet it can be a reminder of how others feel that don't have the same blessings that we do. And trust me, there are people out there that would do anything to be in your shoes.
There may even be things that could have been. Bitter or better? I can look back and say “if only”, or “wish I would have”, or “poor me”, but when I think about it, even the boneheadest mistakes I've made can't be taken back. Maybe it was something that was totally out of my control. Maybe it wasn't. I still have a choice. And so I choose better. I don't think for a minute that bad things happen for a reason. But I do think that bad things can be used to make things better, to make us better people. And when I choose better, those bad things help to prepare me to be better for my purpose.
For me, I feel like my purpose is to encourage others to find their purpose, to figure out what God intended them to be. Just finding that purpose is a blessing in itself. But knowing that God can take me even at my worst, take all that's ever happened to me good or bad, and use all that to do some good in this world if I just let him, that is something dreams are made of. And so just for your annoyance and to get you thinking about your purpose, I'll say it again, I feel blessed!
