The Mud Puddle

Once upon a time...
There was a mailman who was delivering her route and minding her own business.  She was late and trying to catch up and get back on track.  As she hurried down the street just a little bit faster than she should have.  She was walking along and sorting her mail when.....her foot hit and empty space and she stumbled and fell right into a very large mud puddle.  There she sat, covered with mud from head to toe.  How embarrassing!  She even had to use someone's garden hose to spray some of the mud off of herself so that she could complete her appointed rounds.
Going through life is a lot like walking on a mail route.  They both have their "ups and downs".  Sometimes we can get so caught up in the actual business of living life that we land ourselves in a spiritual "mud puddle".  We become so intent on gaining the things of the world, that we allow our spirits to go into a real downhill slide.  It takes real work and effort to get out of the puddles that we have gotten ourselves into.  I would venture to say that it can be much harder getting out than it was going in.
Still, we can't choose the things that have happened to us before this point in our lives, but we can choose who we become from this moment on.  We can't choose the fact that we are currently in a puddle, but we can choose whether or not we stay there.  We can't choose how our story began, but we have the choice to choose how it ends.
So, no matter where you find yourself, no matter how muddy the trail, you get to choose whether or not you stay there.


Joshua 24:14-15
14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

"One life and one alone we have to live upon the earth.
One life in which to learn so much---to seek and find and prove our worth.
So many dreams there are to dream...so many things to know and do.
So many rosy peaks to climb, so many pathways to pursue.
So waste no time on fruitless quests that get you nowhere in the end.
The good of time is yours to squander or with care to use and spend.
It is folly to postpone good deeds. Tomorrow never comes they say
The future times belong to God, your only chance is now....Today!"
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