August 15. “In our country you are free to choose but the choices you make today will determine what you will be, do and have in the tomorrows of your life.” (Zig Ziglar)

At first reading of this quotation, it feels just a bit fatalistic. Really? What I do TODAY will determine my future? What if I am having a bad day, what then? Am I doomed to that future that my bad day hat wrought?

The answer, of course, is no. And actually, this quote can be much more about hope than destiny. What this quote says to me is that EVERY day presents the opportunity to set my future. Every decision can be one toward the future I want. I am not doomed to live with YESTERDAY’S choices, any more than I am assured of success by them. Every day is a chance to make a choice, and every day is a chance to alter where my life is going.

Many times I have made great choices on one day, only to botch them the next. Similarly I have had my share of bad days, and felt the sweetness of redemption the next. Life is a never-ending series of choices. Each of those choices plays a role in my future, just as my present is the result of the sum total of all choices to date.

What I see in this quote is hope, and caution. There is the hope that no matter what has happened to date, I can make the right choices today to move forward; and the caution that no matter how many good choices I have made in the past, today presents the opportunity to derail them, if even briefly.

I am working my way through a journey toward better health. As part of that journey I am working to lose weight. Along the way I have read many blogs and articles about weight loss. So many of them are written by people who are disappointed with themselves because of the choices they made in the recent past. They lament the dessert they ate, or the extra slice of pizza. It makes me sad to read them because they seem to have waning hope. As a response to this I have come up with this quote of my own:

Every day, every meal, every urge gives you the next, best chance to make the right choice.

Yes, my tomorrows are defined by the choices of today, just as today is determined by the choices of yesterday. But, there is never a bad time to make a good choice. That’s my reflection for today. Today I am reflecting on the hope that comes with the notion that I can always choose well.