Life is a handful, living an uphill task
The summit receding, demanding more
Sometimes I’m tempted to give up
Sometimes to turn back, go downhill
Hang my boots where I’m stuck
Marry present since future seems too far;
A shadow, visible yet impossible to reach.
To live this dream, I must choose every day
To keep climbing though it’s daunting
Take one more step though it hurts
Knowing determination, not effort, wins.
The summit is still some ways to go
But instead of the scraggly beaten fellow
I stand here smiling though I’m aching;
Smiling from a depth failure can’t mock
Delay can’t stall, success can’t corrupt
Smiling with joy nothing can steal
So glad to be alive! So grateful that I can!
Life is the greatest gift, every other’s lesser.
I may not make it like my neighbor, yet
Gratitude fills, spills from my thankful heart:
Elated I made it to where I am right now
Hopeful that come what may, that which once
Seemed unattainable, draws closer, reachable
Tangible and worthy with every step I take.
Come what may, I’m smiling all the way
To a dream that’s just a breath away.
It’s a new month! New things generate within us, some excitement that is often based on expectation of better, different from what we are used to or where we have been. That excitement vaporizes too fast for some but guess what, we can choose to carry it a little farther than the first day, beyond the first week, right on to the last week. None of us knows what tomorrow will bring but we know that before that tomorrow comes, we have the ability to choose how it meets us. Will you choose that it meets you standing or fallen, already giving up?
I am choosing joy to be the fuel that keeps me going from one day to the other. I am choosing to keep that expectancy renewed everyday no matter what the day brings. That choice may not change how the day leaves me but it definitely will influence how I leave it: above or beneath, beaten or winning, giving up or ready to try one more time, to charge ahead, take one more step closer to that which may seem impossible today. Choices are tools that we all have, tools that only us can use as we please, tools that are often neglected or underutilized yet has the power to carry us farther than we could imagine. In a world that is constantly pumped with bad news and disheartening reports, choosing what we open ourselves to and what to close our doors to, matters.
Choosing the right attitude doesn’t mean our challenges will melt away and never return. It may even seem that we have little chance to catch our breath enough to exhale all the mounting pressures that can build up within. Still, we can choose, to be driven by purpose, instead of the myriad issues pulling us in million ways. Job said that man is born to troubles. To the issues of life, there is no end. It is therefore left to us, to make that choice today and every day, to look beyond all that’s not working as expected, to look up and see the sun rising in transcendent colors, to reach inside and find that joyful place within, draw it out, plaster it on our face and let the world experience the riches and the beauty of a genuine smile: it is rare, it is a gift: enjoy it, share it, spread it around, let’s fill the world with smiles.
Glory!