Better or Bitter - it's your choice.

God's Chastening -- Daily "Lessons on Living" Christian Devotional: "Job 5:17

'Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects; therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.'"

Lou Holtz, former head football coach of the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, is legendary in his adherence to discipline. In an interview with The Saturday Evening Post in 1989, he was quoted as saying, "When it comes to discipline here, we ask three questions: Will it make him a better man? A better student? A better athlete? If the answer is yes, we make him do it. The next step is up to him. An individual has a choice when you discipline him: either to become bitter or better." Judging by his squad’s record, both on and off the field, Lou Holtz’s charges for the most part became better men.

Life throws many challenges at us. Some are of our own making. Some "just happen." When things "happen" we usually can do little or nothing to stop them or change them. Many things are outside of our "circle of influence"

Does that mean passively accepting troubles and difficulties? No!

We always have a choice as to how we will respond.

We can get angry and rant and rave, and become bitter and twisted, blaming God and blaming others. We can curse life, or fate for being so cruel and mean to us. After all, we have a right to a happy pleasant life...don't we?

Or we can put our trust in God who is always working things out for our own good (Romans 8:28). We can feel the pain, the anguish and the fear. We can cry out for help. We may sit passively and let the horror pass, or get up and do what we can to salvage a better future from the wreckage.

When bad things happen, we can become bitter or better. The choice is ours.

What negative experience have you had that you feel bitter and angry about? What will you do today to "turn it around" and let it make you a better person?