Choosing a Happy Ending to my Story

Choosing a Happy Ending to my Story

Galatians 6:7-8 NASB
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

   I once heard a preacher talk about making changes in your life.  He likened it to when the Apollo astronauts would launch on a lunar landing mission.  They would blast out of earth orbit and begin a course to take them to the moon.  Along the way they would check their course from time to time and if they were off course a bit they would execute what they called a “course correction.”  The course correction was to help them get back on course.  Course corrections were considered normal and were expected.  Many things could influence the space craft as it flew so corrections would be needed from time to time.
   In life we set a course and along the way we should examine our lives and see if we need to make any course corrections.  Problems come up that may cause us to get off course so corrections are needed to get us back on course.
   Of course, it helped a lot that the astronauts would begin their journey on a good course.  But even if their initial course was off they could still correct it to take them to their destination.
   I read a story; I think it was in a Reader’s Digest, about two men.  These two men came from similar backgrounds, both growing up in "dysfunctional" homes.  Both were raised by an alcohol-addicted parent and both endured numerous hardships as a
result of the many problems brought about by their unstable home life.  So how did they turn out as adults?  Quite differently.
   One of the men couldn’t keep a job; he was dismissed from several jobs for alcohol-related problems.  He was married for a while, but his marriage ended from many arguments and some physical abuse.  He felt helpless and hopeless to change and believed himself cursed by his upbringing and doomed to failure.  When asked if his childhood had influenced him, he said, "Given my background, what do you expect?"
   The other man held a steady job and enjoyed a stable marriage and home life.  He was involved in his children's lives and in his community.  Overall, he was successful and happy.  When asked about the effect of his childhood on his life, he said, "Given my background, what do you expect?"
   Our past will shape our present, and our backgrounds are crucial in determining the kinds of decisions we will make as adults.  In this example, both men were shaped in different ways by their past.  One slipped into the old, familiar patterns and recreated
them in his own life as an adult.  The other was determined not to repeat what he had experienced as a child and determined that his kids would never suffer as he had suffered as a child.  The first man felt helpless to change and the other used his background as a motivation to change his course and make a better life.
   Yes, we are a product of our past.  Yes, we are shaped by our parents, by our childhood and by influential people in our lives.  But we have the final say what kind of lives we’ll live.  I once read, "You may not go back and make a brand new start, but you can start right now to make a brand new end."
   What does that mean to me?  It means that I do not have to be a failure in life unless I let myself be a failure.  Rich or poor, healthy or sick, I get to determine what my reaction to life is.  I can have faith and believe God and live for Him or I can sink into despair and turn my back on Him and live a defeated and lost life.
   God has written a happy ending to the story of my life, and I get to choose whether or not to live it.

Stephen Cram                                February 25, 2012           Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8