I am...(1)

"I am ..."

They say these words are powerful

Because they are the beginning

Of defining yourself.

Whatever word comes next

Is what you believe in.

What you believe will guide

Your actions

And those actions will

Have consequences to which

You will respond.

All those pieces

Beliefs, actions, consequences, responses ...

Put together form a life.

We have within us

A remarkable ability

To define and redefine ourselves

At any given moment

By our choices ... becoming a parent

By our losses ... becoming a widow

By our occupation ...becoming a teacher

By our virtues ....becoming an encourager.

Our beliefs are born of our perceptions

What others have told us

What we have experienced, witnessed, practiced, learned...

Accepted as the norm or

Within the realm of possibility.

We are shaped by victories and defeats alike

But it is still the shape of

Our choosing.

This is truth.

So what

Within your realm of possibility

Do you want to be and

What is keeping you from that belief

What will it take for you to believe?

Are you afraid to believe because

The consequences are more

Than you are willing to risk?

"I always wanted to be..." is a lie.

If you really wanted to...

You would have done something about it.

The truth is something more like

"I often thought of being...but I chose something else."

Choices must be made

We are spirits endowed with free will.

To be given breath is

To enter the human race

But the direction of travel

Is entirely upon you.

I am joyful.

That is my choice.

It is a fruit of the spirit

A gift and you cannot wrest it from me

Without my consent.

I have as much right to

Choose sadness, bitterness, or listlessness

As anyone but I don't want that.

I've seen the consequences and am

Unwilling to accept them.

I struggle and I hurt

I can be pulled under by the currents

As easily as anyone

But when I surface for air

There will be laughter on my lips and

When the sun lights my face again

I will beam back at it.

Joy has sustained me through dark places and is a

Defining characteristic of my eternal destination.

Join me or disdain me

That choice is yours.

I am joyful... that choice is mine.