INTERSECTION

INTERSECTION

Agnes Repplier wrote, “It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere.” I read this quote early on a Friday morning just before dressing to go to the gym.

I will not regurgitate my morning ritual. However, I would like you to know what happens as I exit the house between 6:10 and 6:15 Monday through Friday. After pressing the ignition, shifting the gear to “R,” backing out of the garage, and exiting left out of the driveway, I drive to the intersection of my street and the one that exits the subdivision. The red octagonal sign located in devil’s strip demands that I STOP! At the intersection, I must decide - go straight, turn left or right, or do nothing. For a variety of reasons, sitting at the intersection for too long is not a wise choice. A path must be chosen. I have an appointment and so for more than a year, I have chosen to make a right turn. However, the other options are always available to me. The right turn is the only exit out of the subdivision and the route to the gym for the activity promoting the lifestyle that I desire. Once the right turn is made, I don’t think about or wish for the other choices. To do otherwise would be an invitation to diminish my engagement at the gym or to become regretful.

The opening quote, looked at under the microscope of choices at an intersection, takes on instructional value for me. Happiness is not an imported resource. It is cultivated inwardly at the intersection of “Happy Lane” and “Unhappy Blvd.”

Now might be the perfect time to STOP and look closely at the difficult intersections of the last twelve months, not with regret but to assess what actions and lessons you will carry into the future. That is how I arrived at this discourse on choice and the role that choice plays at intersections, especially around emotional health.

The inward desire to be happy must override the tendency to go in another direction especially when it intersects with external challenges that often seem easier and much more attractive. Happiness is impossible to secure outside of self. There are mornings when I STOP at the intersection that I want to shift the gear to reverse, back up the hill to the driveway and crawl back under the cover. I have not done so…YET.

When we decide to live life better, the choices to do otherwise are amplified if not multiplied. Here is the truth - nothing or no one can steal your happiness, joy, or self-worth. These do not originate outside of yourself. On the other hand, you are free to give them away. Why would you choose to give something of such value and so hard to uncover to another? This just might be one of those places where it is perfectly okay to be selfish.

Jeremiah 6:16

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---You always have a choice.