Turwaithiel Swann wrote:
I think that we definately have a short time here on earth, and that we each stand for a greater purpose than what we even realize now...He proves that your purpose is not easy, nor will the journey be easy, yet that you can succeed, and you don't always to go it alone.
I share your emotion Tur. And because of the difficulty of that purpose and the flaws in our nature, it certainly is a struggle. So life truly is about who you will decide to be and what you will decide to do and not about what happens to us. I can’t help but compare the lives of Tolkien’s protagonist Denethor and his friend CS Lewis. Both were face with a life of unending tragedy but their lives had very different endings. Bad things will happen to all of us. It is all about our choice and our attitude. I love Charles Swindoll’s famous quote:
Swindoll wrote:
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.
What a challenge Tolkien lays down for us! What will we decide? Will we choose to love? Or will we go down to the tomb in bitterness and despair? The choice is always and only ours.