I recently had the privilege of officiating my father-in-law’s funeral service. In preparing the message, I had no problem identifying plenty of positive things to talk about. He was a great man in many respects with an abundance of qualities and stories to build a message around.
While organizing these thoughts one morning, I was walking past a cemetery near our home. I couldn’t help but notice the monuments and tombstones as I passed by on the walk. Each one had two dates, the birth date and the passing date. I prefer to that second date as the transition date (transition to a different life).
There was also the dash symbol or space between the two dates. This “dash” or space represents their life. It represents all the good times, the tough times, the laughter, the sorrow, and all the interactions with others. It represents years of toil and labor, hopes and dreams, and disappointments and failures.
If you are reading this column, you have one date, your birth date. You are currently in that “dash” or space. We all have one (dash or space). Some are longer than others. Some have more hardships than others. Some of those “dashes” have more uncertainty than others.
No two “dashes” are the same. Those “dashes” are full of circumstances that we often don’t control as well as choices we make. Those “dashes” are full of blessings we didn’t deserve as well as hardships that we wished we could avoid. There are some big events in those dashes and many small insignificant things that we take for granted.
The “dash” is our story regardless. It’s unique to us. It’s special to us. It’s our story.
While we don’t fully control our story by any means, we do have a great deal to say about it. You see, our story is really about a series of choices. While we don’t choose all the circumstances, we do choose our response. While we don’t control the external issues, comments, and challenges that come our way, we do choose our response.
Our “dash” is really a series of choices.
We can choose better over bitter. We can choose forgiveness over resentment. We can choose to focus forward over dwelling on the past.
We can choose to see the good in others rather than finding flaws. We can choose to lift up rather than tear down. We can choose positive over negative.
We can choose to work hard and seek better, or we can choose the easy route and deal with regret later. We can choose to help others, or we can choose to focus purely on ourselves.
Life is a series of choices.
We can be defined by our circumstances, limitations, and opportunities, or we can be defined by the choices we make.
Romans 12:2-3 “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Conformed to the world tells us to focus on self, be comfortable, and allow outside influences to define us. A renewed mind changes our focus, changes our thoughts, and ultimately changes our choices.
How will your “dash” be defined?
Doug equips leaders to make organizations better. He has two leadership books available on all online platforms. Whether you are looking for a speaker for your next event or a leadership coach to develop people and build an authentic team, contact Doug at doug.strickel@gmail.com and learn more about PLUS.
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