CHOICES!

Not too long ago I was listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. I've listened to Rush for years, though not as faithfully recently, since I got my Sirius radio and listen to a lot of Fox News. However, I was glad I turned it on that day as Rush woke me up to a wonderful truth of life. Here it is……"The only limits in life are the ones we place on ourselves." Wow!! What a simple but enlightening truth. Let me tell you the context of that statement.

A woman called Rush complaining about unemployment and the fact that she could not find work. After listening to her gripe and complain for a while Rush said, "Can I ask you a few questions?" "Sure" she replied.

The first question he asked her was, "Are you willing to move anywhere to find employment?" Immediately she responded…."No." When Rush asked her "Why?"…..she began to give her reasons. She had a house….she had family….she had friends…so she didn't want to move away…..etc…etc.

What Rush said to her next may have sounded cold to many people but he was right on the money. He said, "Then you and I have nothing more to talk about. You have made CHOICES….and those choices you have made have limited your options. So please don't complain about the economy and job situation when you have clearly made your boundaries and you have to live within those boundaries and the limited choices that are there."

After the woman hung up Rush then made that wonderful and profound observation…."The only limits in life are the ones we place on ourselves."

I have had Preacher friends throughout life that complained that they could not find a church to serve at. When I questioned them further about why they were having a problem it became clear to me what the problem was. They were looking for open pulpits in a limited geographical location. In other words, their prayers to God would have sounded like this…."Dear God…I'll go where you want me to go….AS LONG AS….it is between this county and this county or this state and that state…or as long as it is near my family…..or around where I am paying for a house." You see…..they put limits on themselves and God…and yet wanted to complain when things did not happen. (By the way…I might add…that I think it is an affront to God to be ordained into the ministry…..which says that you are a servant of the gospel….and then you tell God where you are going to go…..or more precisely….where you WILL NOT go.) Whenever I was looking for a pulpit, anywhere was an open field for me. I've been know to send resumes to Alaska!

Same thing is true with going to college. The simple fact is this, the more education you have, the more doors open for you. I drill this into the heads of High School students all the time. So….don't complain about being unemployed if all you have is a High School diploma. Don't complain if you can't move up in the company because all you have is a two year degree….etc….etc. When you made YOUR CHOICE about how much college was enough…..you then set the stage for your life and what options were available to you. The only limits you have are the ones you place on yourself.

Don't complain about your job or the hours you have to keep or the travel you have to do. The job you have is the one you have because of the CHOICES you have made in life. If you are bound and determined that you are never going to move from your hometown, then fully expect that you are not always going to have a job that you are happy with. Business and industry are changing. They move in and they move out. You either have to go with the flow or make the CHOICE that you will go where the job is that you do want. I believe the national average is that the average American changes careers four times during the course of their life.

I could go on and on but I think the truth is obvious here. We alone are responsible for our happiness. Most of our circumstances in life are the result of CHOICES we have made.

Often times in life the CHOICES we make are not "good" or "bad." They are just CHOICES. However, we must realize that whatever choices we make have advantages and disadvantages. Happiness in life is measured by us learning to live with the consequences of choices we have made. If we are unhappy then we simply need to make different choices. However, realize when you do that, there will be advantages and disadvantages to those choices.

The point is, we are more in control of our life then we think we are. It is so easy to blame the government, big corporations, the bad economy, and those darn Chinese!! However, Rush's simple truth is so apparent….."The only limits in life are the ones we place on ourselves."

Think about it! The more you do the more you will see how true it is.