August 1 - The Promise of a New Day

This is from the devotional I read everyday....

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow." - Helen Keller

We make of our experiences what we choose. We can focus on the traffic snarls while traveling to work, or we can smile because we have a job to go to and a car to carry us there. We can be angry because the washing machine broke down, or grateful that we've been free, for a while, of the laundromat hassle. Every experience offers us an opportunity to respond, and our response is always a reflection of our emotions.

We choose to be angry, depressed, or afraid. We can just as easily decide to be trusting, happy or confident. And the exciting realization for us is that we are free to choose whatever pleases us. Even though we've gotten mad for years over traffic jams doesn't mean we can't give up the anger. How liberating it is to claim control of our emotions, our attitudes, our reactions to the full panorama of our experiences.