Every day I wake up and go through a sorta routine. I am reminded when I look in the mirror that my body is definitely not perfect. I have started to see the lines on my forehead and around my eyes from all my animated expressions.  I breathe in and out, my heart beats and pumps blood to my body. I am alive.

Being alive is a wonderful gift. I have the opportunity to choose how I live each day. Will my day be spent blessing others with my actions or words? Will I allow my thoughts to control what actions I take? Will I be in a bad mood and put everyone around me in a bad mood?

My desire is to be like Paul who gave everything to serve Christ. He “died” every day to serve Christ.  How much easier would it have been for Paul to have done what he wanted when he was falsely accused, thrown in prison, or beaten? Instead he sang and worshipped even in prison. Paul died to his desires, his wants, his thoughts, and gave himself completely to the service of God.

I am not dead yet, but I am working on dying everyday.