who do you want to be?

 



I don't know...I look at my life and see conflict from within. It isn't my doing, in fact, I have done all I can to be patient, generous and caring. It is from outside sources whose sole goal, it would seem, is to create division just to be spiteful. Their words and actions, however, are hateful and have me at my wit's end! I have dealt with crud like this throughout my life...yet even in adulthood, it would seem there are "bullies" who just want to create drama and vitriol for their own benefit. Yet, if the tables were turned, I can damn well guarantee ya there would be hell to pay! So it seems, I can never win. Huge sigh.
I received the following story as an e-mail yesterday and it seems to fit with what is happening. It is told from a woman's perspective, but you can read it from a male point of view also. I hope that the words sink in....I also hope that you are never on the receiving end of bitter jealousy. Believe me, it hurts more than I can describe here. Here is the story:

You are going to meet an old lady someday. Down the road, ten, twenty, thirty years; she’s waiting for you.  You will catch up to her. What kind of old lady are you going to meet? 

She may be a seasoned, soft and gracious lady. A lady who has gown old gracefully, surrounded by a host of friends – friends who call her blessed because of what her life has meant to them. She may be a bitter, disillusioned, dried-up cynical old buzzard, without a good word for anyone or anything – soured, friendless, alone.

          The kind of old lady you will meet will depend entirely upon you.

She will be exactly what you make of her, nothing more, nothing less. It is up to you. 

                       You will have no one else to credit or blame. 

Every day, in every way, you are becoming more and more like that old lady. You are getting to look more like her, think more like her and talk more like her. You are becoming her.

 If you live only in terms of what you are getting out of life, the old lady gets smaller, drier, harder, crabbier, more self-centered.

 Open your life to others. Think in terms of what you can give and you contribution to life, and the old lady grows larger, softer, kinder, greater.

These little things, seemingly so unimportant now – attitudes, goals, ambitions, desires – are adding up inside where you cannot see them, crystallizing in your heart and mind.  The point is these things don’t always show up immediately. But they will – sooner than you think. 

Some day they will harden into that old lady; nothing will be able to soften or change them then.

The time to take care of that old lady is right now, today. Examine your motives, attitudes, goals. Check up on her. Work her over now while she is still pliable, still in a formative condition. Then you will be much more likely to meet a lovely, gracious old lady at the proper time.

 

Remind you of anyone you know? Pass this message along...it is never too late to change...and remember--change is good!