Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill

Is it easier to give up than to stay the course? One of the things that sustains us when we want to give up is the habits we’ve created. We are told we can count on our habits more than our willpower.

Is it easier to create bad habits than good ones? We have to be careful we create the habits that will sustain a good life and not result in a bad one. When we realize something isn’t working for us how easy is it to change our direction, to regroup, and go forward in what we hope will work better for us?

We need to ask ourselves these questions throughout our lives. Is it easier to look at someone else’s life and see the change in direction they need but hard to see it in our own life? How often do we say to ourselves if I were them? Why is it easier to know what someone else should do than what we should do ourselves?

If we don’t keep on doing what we know needs to be done it will be our own life that suffers. What price will we pay if we don’t write our book, sing our song, or create whatever calls out to be created? What if we don’t stand up for what needs to be stood up for?

We create order out of chaos, but order is not created randomly. A pile of car parts in a garage will never randomly end up in the right place and the car rebuilt without effort by the car builder. When I see restored cars I appreciate only a small part of the effort it took to rebuild that car because I don’t know how much work and money went into it.

We are told we should only give up one dream for a greater dream. If we give up on our dreams without a bigger dream what kind of a life do we end up with? How many women give up on a dream in the workplace to create a family?

The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. William Wordsworth

Creating a family is the one lasting thing we have, the one we can leave behind, and the one that builds on itself. If some of our dreams get put aside for family then I think the greater dream wins. We have to be careful we don’t think just because we have a family we can’t do anything else, but we also have to be careful we don’t think going after what we want means we have to give up on family.

If we are lucky at eighty we will be surrounded by family, and their accomplishments will be part of what makes us proud. They might be the one that fulfills a long-lost dream. They might be the one that finally attains the pinnacle of success, and we might have played a part in that.

We will be as proud, and maybe even prouder of what our children or grandchildren accomplish than if we accomplished it ourselves. Because they are the legacy we leave behind, our contribution to the greater good, and the progress of the future.

As I write this my grandson asked me to read him the puppy books. He didn’t sit on my knee long enough to finish them both and he was off on another adventure. He plays the piano as I write. It takes longer to accomplish things with him but everything is brighter and more fun because of him.

We must leave our world in a good place because of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Can we agree on what makes a better world?

Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud. Maya Angelou

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. Edith Wharton

The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest of intention. Kahlil Gibran

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.