Every morning I wake up and realize I have a choice on how I view the day ahead… I can look at everything in front of me with angst and trepidation, or I can see it as a blank slate ready to be filled. I think one of the reasons I love sunrises so much is because they remind me of that choice, and so much hope comes up in their wake, it almost makes the decision for me.

As I’ve been cruising around the ocean with my husband this week, I’ve had the opportunity to see an enormous variety of couples interacting with one another. What has been uppermost in my mind throughout these observations is how much any relationship is a constant choice.

We always have the choice whether we will be patient or impatient, kind or harsh, accepting or exclusive, forgiving or angry. Nobody in this world is going to be perfect…the only one who ever was or ever will be walked this earth a couple thousand years ago, and He used that walk to protect us and provide us a way home again. Choosing to harbor anger or resentment towards those we love and who genuinely love us in return because they did something that hurt us, is to throw the sacrifice He made back in His face. It is like telling Him we deserve better than He did.

Now, let me be clear that I am not saying we should allow ourselves to be hurt, abused, and mistreated…especially by those who intend to harm us and who are truly cruel. We need to be able to see the difference between those who genuinely love and care for us, yet make a mistake that causes us pain, and those who don’t and continually act accordingly.

I have been blessed with some incredibly wonderful people in my life, my husband being the best of them, and none of them are perfect. Some of them have caused me deep pain and heartache as a result of their actions, words, or choices, but I have worked hard to keep my heart set on forgiveness and not on whatever caused the hurt.

We are all just human beings, doing our best to get through life. How blessed we are to have a God who loves us so much that He is looking out for us every minute of every day! How much He must love us to bring such special people into our lives at exactly the right times and places…so, the least we can do is to love them and treat them as well as we can during the time we are blessed to have them in our lives.