Choices

"Life is about choices. 
Some we regret, some we're proud of. Some will haunt us forever.
We are what we choose to be." --GRAHAM BROWN

This is just a cropped excerpt of the flowers delivered to my teller station one Friday in January. The note said, "Happy last day of work!" I was quietly choking down a lump in my throat that day. I had chosen to leave behind a fun job, so I could better dedicate myself to photography, and actually have time for my family. Yet change always terrifies me, so the choice to let go of this financial security and all the friendships it had cultivated in hopes of succeeding as a photographer was bold and daring and scary. 

It's been two weeks, and this copper tone bouquet is still sitting on my table. While the petals fall listlessly, one by one, to the platter below and the greenery slowly wilts, I still hang on to them just one more day... by day... by day... Because I feel passion and motivation every time I look at it. It's such a pretty reminder of choices and blossoming within them. And friendship too, of course.

Choices close chapters and open new ones. You don't always know in the moment if your choice is ultimately good or bad. Sometimes the choice seems so perfect--cut-and-dried, only to wake up and realize it was nothing short of devastating, leaving you with painful scars. Other times you might think you're biting off a piece of hell, but it ends up being the closest thing to paradise this side of heaven. 

Choices. We make them every day. They're as simple as deciding which socks we put on in the morning or as complex as the person we choose to spend the rest of our lives with. Choices chart the course of our lives, they are who we are. It can be scary, choosing to let go of your secure comfort zone to free fall into an abyss of dreams and the great unknown. But today I dare you to choose to not be ordinary. 

Dare to be brave, to trust God and to believe in yourself.