BOOK OF LIFE

Have you ever looked at life like a book? We are all born with a front and back cover. We are even born with the title to our book, once our parents give us our name, it is embossed on the front cover. It becomes our very own BOOK OF LIFE.

Most of us have already written many chapters. In some of our chapters we have written in many life changing mistakes but we have also written in many wonderful life changing victories. With each chapter we hopefully have grown. In some of our chapters we may have made the same mistakes multiple times, maybe to a different degree, such as it might have been worse the first time we made it, than it was the second or third time, it might have even been worse the second or third time. Even if we have made the same mistakes over, we still have learned something about ourselves. Maybe we found out we do not learn good enough or fast enough, or maybe we learned we got stronger every time we have made the same mistake and we start noticing the warning signs earlier, to stop us from repeating it again. It truly is not important what the mistakes are or even how often we have repeated them. The most important issue is that we recognize we have made mistakes, we accept responsibility and take accountability for them, this is where our pages start to change from mistakes to victories, where true change begins in our life and new pages are being written. I have made many mistakes going through this journey. Who really knows, I mean truly knows, how to write this kind of chapter. The chapter titled: A Spouses Ultimate Betrayal.

All of us going through this, will be writing our own pages to the next chapter of our Book. Some of us will not make as many mistakes as others will, we may repeat mistakes over and over, while others will not. Some will make a decision based on their emotions of the moment, others will wait to see how time does at healing the wounds. Some will put blinders on and pretend it did not happen, while others will take theirs off for the first time in years. Others may forgive immediately or over time, while others may never forgive. Words, from anger, pain, resentment, even from love, will be spoken, or they may never be spoken and possibly regretted later. The pages to each of our chapters, are ours to write and we must live with each page, once we write it, it can not be rewritten. We can most certainly change and write our pages to the next chapter differently, but the ones we have already written can not be deleted, erased, removed or redone as they are now a page in a chapter of our Book of Life.

Books are usually written with a subject matter. Whether it is fiction or non fiction, it has a beginning, a middle and an ending. The author usually gets to pick what he/she wants their characters to go through. Most of the time there is a hero and a villian with other characters mixed into the plot, the author can take them anywhere he wants them to go, have whatever personality he wants them to have, make them rich or poor, strong or weak. The characters of a book do not get to decide what happens to them, where they go or even what they do, the author has free rein over them. Some books are so good, you just can not put them down until you have finished the whole story, while others are so boring that reading one chapter puts you to sleep. There are those that get you so caught up that you start to fantasize that you are the hero in the story line. When you have finally finished reading the book you will have decided whether it was worth reading or a waste of time. When asked, you will tell others what you thought about the book, "it was great, the best book I have read in years,", "it was a tear jerker and I cried the whole way through", "it was the most boring, puts you to sleep book ever written," or maybe just a simple, "it was okay, but I would not read it again." It is always up to the reader if the author of the book was good or not and it is the reader who determines if the author's book will make money or be on the Best Sellers list.

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Every minute of every day, you are writing a page in a chapter of your Book and on some of those pages will be lifes you have touched along the way. (How would, or will your Book read when these questions are asked?)

How did I conduct myself when others mistreated me, did I handle it with dignity and Grace?

When I made mistakes, did I take responsibility for them, did I learn and grow?

When life beat me down, did I stay down or get up, did I continue on with myself respect and self value in tact, or did I throw it out the window and hurt others with gossip and back stabbing to feel better, "I'll do unto you, what you did unto me" mentality?

Did I live to the best of my ability, using a moral compass to guide me, or did I have the careless, it's my life and I will do what I want regardless of who it might hurt, attitude?

Did I share and give thanks for my victories? Did I appreciate those who helped me acheive my successes?

Did I honor my word? Keep my promises or did I just not care?

Did I build up or tear down someone else's life? Was I a positive or negitative influence in the lifes of others?

Did I work hard to bringing peace and joy, or just cause conflict in the lives of those I love, work with, or met in the World?
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How are you writing your Book? What will the readers remember about it when it is finished? Will your Book be a Top Seller? One where others will say:

"That was the Best Book, I want to write one just like that, it left me feel like I can do anything".

"Yes the Book was full of mistakes but their victories completely outshined their mistakes, it left me feeling like I might make some wrong choices but there is hope for me, I can redeem myself by making better ones."

"That was the absolute worst Book I have ever read, do not buy it, you will be filled with anger and hatred at the end."

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We get to write our own Book, we get to choose what goes on our pages and how the chapters will read. Remember our Book of Life, does not have an edit button, we do not have the rewrite option, once the WORDS ARE SPOKEN, ACTIONS DONE, THOUGHTS ARE PROCESSED and CHOICES ARE MADE, it is forever written on a page in a chapter of your Book.

Unlike the author of a book we buy or read in a Library, who gets to design the cover of their book and decides what is going to happen with the story, the characters of his book have no choice, they are what he makes them, than the author has the ability to edit the pages and rewrite a paragraph if they do not like how it reads, we do not get that luxury. We do not know what will happen in our life. We do not know what is coming, good or bad. The only thing we get is the choice on how we handle whatever it is that comes our way and that is what makes up the pages, in the chapters of our Book of Life.

I believe that God designed our covers, He knows our ending and He knew our story before we even wrote it. God is the designer of our Book and we are the author. We get to write our own story. Sometimes our story lines are not by our choosing, but we get to chose how it will be written. God gave us a magnificent and powerful gift, the honor of making our own choices.

When we give our lives to Chirst, He should be the author of our Book, I think of all the pain and suffering I could have spared myself had I of just let God be the complete author of my Book, but I am just a human being and I always have hung on to parts of my own story line and it has been through those times that I have made my greatest mistakes and pages were written with great regret. Christ knew I was going to do this and that is why is sent His Son to die for us. Although God forgives us for those pages, (sins), it is in forgiving ourselves, that I beleive, we write our most painful pages. Since we can not forgive ourself we unfortunately make the mistake again and another page is written. Everyone's Book will have mistakes, bad decisions, poor choices, but it is those who can forgive themself and move on to better decisions and choices that will start writing new pages filled with a more positive story line.

Tomorrow, when you first wake up in the morning, think about the fact that you can start to write a whole new page and possibly a new chapter to your Book of Life. The past is already written, its over and the pages are full. How do you want to start this fresh new page? How do you want the rest of your Book to read? What do you want your readers to say when your Book is finished? It is your Book, it is your choice what you write.

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE PAGES AND CHAPTERS OF YOUR LIFE TO SAY WHEN YOU FINISH YOUR BOOK?