The other day I started my day by praying this prayer…”Lord, give me a great day today.” Then I suddenly stopped and a thought hit me. If I didn’t ask God to give me a great day, is it as if He would give me a terrible day? You see, I have prayed this prayer many times before without thinking about it, you know just a routine type of token prayer. But for some reason this time I prayed it, it was like God shook me up after I said those words. I realized it isn’t up to God to give me a great day. It isn’t as though He is going to give me some good days, some average days, but some great days if I’m lucky. Everyday is a day the Lord has made I have to rejoice and be glad in it. The choice is up to me to take what God gives me and make it great. Coach John Wooden said, “Things turn out best for people who make the best out of the way things turn out.”

I am now changing my morning prayer to, “God give me the strength to make today great!”

No one can direct the wind, but they can adjust their sails to leverage it. We all have a choices to make each and every day. I have found that the choices we make will determine the path we take. Here are some choices we should make everyday…

1. Choose To Find The Good

Whatever it is you go out looking for you almost always find. It is called our Reticular Activation System (RAS). Our mind becomes aware of specific things that we are looking for. For example when I purchased my old Jeep Wrangler years ago I noticed an amazing thing. All the sudden it seemed like EVERYONE had a Jeep Wrangler on the road. I noticed Jeeps everywhere I went. Why did this happen? Did everyone go and purchase a Jeep Wrangler on the same day as me? NO, of course not, it was because my Reticular Activation System kicked in and I became MORE aware of what it is I was focused on. In the same way if you focus on the negative, chances are you are going to only see the negative as your RAS shuts out all other things so that you are only aware of the negative. However, it also works in reverse. If you go out and seek the positive and expect to find the good, your RAS will shut out a lot of the negativity so that you focus on the good. The Bible clearly teaches us how to use our RAS…

Philippians 4:8

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.”

2. Choose To Say On Mission

We cannot allow ourselves to mission drift during the day. We must understand that each and every day we have to be focused on what God is calling us to do and not get distracted. Distraction causes us to lose focus and lose momentum. You may remember the Sirens in Homer’s classic book, “The Odyssey.” These women would lure in the travelers on their journey with music and enchantment. However, as the sailors would be entranced by these beautiful women they would shipwreck on the rocky coast of the Siren’s island. We must keep our eyes on the prize and press on in our mission or we will become like these sailors who mission drifted. When we are pulled in too many directions we become distracted. We must keep our focus on what really matters and what our strengths are. 

3. Choose To Lose

The first shall be last and the last shall be first…sound familiar? That is because it is in the Bible in Matthew 20:16. Pride tells us to always be number 1, never lose, always think about yourself first. However, Jesus had a different approach to how we should live. He modeled humility above all traits. He never tried to one up someone, or step on others to gain ground. We must always live our life by a spirit of humility. And remember humility doesn’t mean to think less of yourself, it just means you think of yourself less. Humility is about placing a high value on others. George McDonald, a Scottish author and minister said, “You can tell whether you are becoming a servant by how you act when people treat you like one.”

Philippians 2:2-4

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.