“Daddy, when you were little did you have a house?”
“No, Emmy, when we were little we didn’t have a house. We had to sleep outside…and we liked it! Emmy, when you were little did you have toys?”
“We didn’t have toys,” she replies with a smile in her sweet Southern accent. “We had to work all the time. And we liked it!”
Emmy and I have fun with this silly little game we play. It can go on for a while until we run out of things to ask if we had when we were little. It actually originated following one of those mandatory parent-child admonitions to eat your dinner and be thankful for it.
One day, though, she’ll really want to know about me. What was it like when you were little? How did you meet Mommy? What did you do in Iraq? Were you scared when you had cancer? She’ll want to hear my story. The challenge for me is what story do I tell her?
I cannot undo what has happened in my life up to this point, nor can I change how I have responded. Some actions I’m proud of while others I’d prefer to forget. Over the years I have come to appreciate the power of choice. Although it can be difficult, it is always my choice how I respond to any circumstance. With wisdom and maturity come the ability to make better choices that lead to better results. Therefore, it really is up to us what story we create for ourselves.
I obviously didn’t choose this cancer. It’s not a result of lifestyle choices that I’ve made over the years. What I have chosen, however, is my response to it. So when my girls inevitably ask me about this ordeal with cancer, I can be proud of the story that I tell them. When they ask me if I was scared, I’ll tell them that of course I was, but we never gave in to fear and always trusted God.
What story do you want to tell? Each of us face trials in life. Some are a result of our own actions and others are not. But, most eventually pass and then we’re left with the unchangeable reality of how we acted in the midst of life’s storms. Do you want to tell your children that you remained angry and bitter, or that you accepted what was happening, stopped feeling sorry for yourself, and trusted God to work it out? Do you want your grandchildren to know that you gave up, or do you want them to see your example of perseverance and hope?
Suffering isn’t easy. God never said it would be. He never promised relief from the world’s troubles if we committed to love and follow his Son. He did promise that we would never be alone and that there would always be hope. In the midst of our pain, as difficult as it may be, it is up to us to choose our response and, in doing so, become the authors of our own story. Will it be a story of despair, or one filled with hope that gives glory to God? The choice is yours and mine.
Question for you: What choices can you make now to create the story you’ll be proud to tell? You can leave a comment below.
I can only hope that I will become half the man you already are. So proud of you and so many levels.
Thanks, Mike. I appreciate that.