Such words to try to live by each day...."Just Think"

Just Think

By Roy Lessin

Just think,
you're here not by chance,
but by God's choosing.
His hand formed you
and made you the person you are.
He compares you to no one else.
You are one of a kind.
You lack nothing
that His grace can't give you.
He has allowed you to be here
at this time in history
to fulfill His special purpose
for this generation.

We start to sound like our parents when we question if this generation will ever understand we are here to fulfill a special purpose don't we......

Most of us leave this life without even knowing we did fulfill and make an impression on the next generation, we want to believe it but those words are rarely spoken....

It's when we've read an obituary that we usually step up and say you know.... Mr. and Mrs. So and So was always so nice to feed me on Wednesday nights with their family when my parents worked nights, or Mr and Mrs So and So would pack you into their Volkswagen to take you to church with their family, or my friend So and So who would often disagree with me but always take my side, then gently reminded me why I might be wrong. 

It's the So and So's in our lives that used "his grace" to fulfill his special purpose in our lives.....to "my" personal So and So's  who are mostly gone, I hope you know that I often "just think".....and try to pay it forward, even if others don't always understand that's what I am trying to do....just goes to show, someday I will be in good company when I become someone's So and So.

Until then I will remember "I am not here by chance" and neither are YOU.

The Fork in the Road......

Ever wonder how many forks in the road there are in life as you travel along? 

The one where you decide if you should keep crawling or take that scary first step away from the hand that holds you tight.  The one where you again let go of that same hand and march proudly into school for the first day, even though you don't know everything you think you should know. How about when you go to church camp that first night in the dark, surrounded with all your friends you wish for that same moonbeam that streams through your window at home to shine it's light and keep you safe. Before you know it your are off to middle school where you become a kindergartener all over again, the bottom of the heap and once again your first day you find comfort in coming home to baked cookies and a glass of milk on the table. Then you are soon in high, you get through your freshman year, how many times does one person have to go through kindergarten anyway?  You press on to your sophomore year and find you want to break away from those hands that held you more and more everyday, to find a sense of freedom that you think only you has ever experienced.
 
By now you have so many forks you think you are ready to have your own dinner party as you have enough forks to serve all who will walk along your path.   Instead of reaching for a hand you start to become the outstretched hand and extend it to others.  You have friends with less than you, be it fortune, parents, talent or faith.

 By reaching out your hand you risk being vulnerable, but without taking a risk you might as well take the other fork in the road, put a shell on your back and live like a snail, crawling along at a slow pace, protected from all the elements of the world and never learn how to say.....

Thank you world for accepting me for who I am, for those of you who took me along your on journey until you thought I was strong enough to walk my own journey and showing me which path was the lighted path to travel.  The one on which each step formed respect both self and for others, confidence and the knowledge to know right from wrong.

Each one of us could have been born at the fork in the road where it lead to drugs, alchohol and violence could have faced us at every turn, where the path became darker and darker as we thought things should only go our way, where people never outstretched a hand just before we had a swamp to cross. 

If you know someone on that path, extend your hand, shine a light to allow them to see there are two forks in the road the one they chose and one they can choose...they and you can make a difference, it might not be the easiest thing to do, could become the least rewarding at the moment because it's always easier to take the path we can see the end, but if you're willing to step out of your comfort zone, I'm willing to bet someone will walk the right path with you....and if you see only one set of foot prints at the end of your journey, don't despair, "it was then that I carried you."