My Daily Choice

My Daily Choice

by Debora Rorvig

(I wrote this piece in 1995. I still believe it and try to make this choice daily.)

I must make a daily choice to believe that there is an uncommon beauty and an extraordinary purpose for my existence at this very moment and place.

For if I do, I will understand my connection to everything and everyone around me who also have purpose and beauty; and this will lead me to Kindness and Respect.

If I do not, I will view myself and the world about me with indifference and become careless and callous.

And if I know that I am a person of extraordinary purpose, I will believe that I influence the world about me, and that all of my actions have significant consequence. I will therefore act with Responsibility.

If I do not, I will attribute my failures to fate and blame others for my problems. Perhaps even worse, I will believe that my successes are luck; which is impossible to replicate and out of my control.

If I truly believe that there is a reason for my existence at this particular time and place, I will scan my horizons for every prospect available to me, and seize upon it, no matter how small or remote it may seem. I will have Hope.

If not, I will feel despair when others succeed, and jealously believe that they are more fortunate or blessed than I.

When troubles come, as they often do, or calamity suddenly strikes; if I am resolute in my belief that there is a reason for my life, I will bend with the winds, but will not break. Through the hard times I will look to friends and family for added strength, and in turn I will be a friend. ‘A three-fold cord is not easily broken’. I will be a part of a Community.

If not, I am doomed to suffer alone.

If I can see that there is uncommon beauty in my life, I will have an appreciation for all of nature. The fragrant earth after a summer shower, a robin singing at my window, waves breaking upon the shore, and the wonder in a child’s eyes; all of these things and countless more will give pause for reflection and rejoicing in my heart. I'll be filled with gratitude just to find myself included in such a wonderful universe. These things will bring me Joy and Humility.

If I cannot see beauty in my own life, I will miss the beauty of nature too. Like a tourist on a speeding train, the sights and sounds, the faces and smiles, days and nights, will all rush past me-as a blur. And at the end of my life, there will be no distinction…and no joy.

Some days it is hard to believe; hard to believe in one's self, in others, and in the universe. But in the end…

it’s much harder not to believe.