Life is a Wonderful Journey
By: Bill Wettstein
Life is a wonderful journey. As a young man, a mentor shared with me that life is 10% what happens to you and 90% what you make of it. I haven’t always made the best of what has happened to me. But, I recently asked my wife, “What are the risks of smiling too much?” Sure, when there is tragedy and sorrow smiling may be inconsiderate. But, if I look at my daily walk, I want to challenge myself to smile more. Why not? My mother passed into eternity last November, and I can remember her saying that she loves to smile because it makes everyone wonder what you are up to and she was usually up to something to make others smile. Count your blessings, name them one by one! That exercise leads to thankfulness, which convinces me to smile.
As we smile on the journey, it amazes me how much there is to learn along the way. When I was in college, I think I would look at “old” people in their late forties and think how nice it must be to have things figured out and be ready to coast through life. Ha! That makes me smile now. I have a lot less answers now than I did then. But, I always want to be willing to learn. There is purpose and fulfillment in learning.
We can learn from the young, we can learn from the old, we can learn from our coworkers, the motoring public, our failures, our successes, our sorrows, our conflicts, our friends, those that we love, and God who created us! It is critical that we have a desire to learn from the perspective of others. I miss vital facts and circumstances and I need help from those around me to be the best employee, father, husband, grandfather, and Son of the King.
Coasting is not an option. Without a desire to learn, we lose purpose. Without purpose, we waste away. May each of us keep smiling and journey forward with a desire to Own it and stay Purpose Driven!
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% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.
Charles R. Swindoll
