"Cest La Vie"

I hate it when people say, "Well, it was meant to be."

That just drives me crazy.
If you haven't seen Inception yet, I would advise you to watch that before you read this. There are references to it and I don't want to ruin the movie for you guys- and for real: watch the movie. It's amazing.

I've seen that movie 6 times in the past week; to say that I liked the movie is an understatement.

People drive me crazy sometimes.

Especially when they say something like, "Oh well, it was meant to be."

Why do they say that? Does it make themselves feel better about something that they don't like? Maybe it was even their fault that something happened! But no, they want to blame it on "human nature" or even "life".

Of course.

It's never our fault.

I forgot we don't know how to take blame for things that we mess up on.

(Sometimes I feel as if you would feel as if I am writing at you. I assure you, I am not. Everything I write about, I process and struggle with myself.)

But yeah.

Not my fault I am in a bad mood.

Not my fault things frustrate me.

Did you just cut me off? I'm gonna honk so that you know you just cut me off... (because they didn't know you were there, hopefully, and now they know.. because.. that changes things...?)

We get frustrated so easily, it seems.
We get mad, blame things on others, and suck our thumbs about it.

Whoop-de-do.
Ya just threw a temper tantrum.
Yup.
Now everybody is looking at you like, "What's wrong with that person?"

Good job.
You don't have a heart.

I'm sure you don't mean it to come across that way, but it does from time to time.

But it wasn't our fault. We had a right to get mad.

Really?
How many times have you told yourself that?
"I have a right to be mad at this person because they did this to me."

Are you kidding me?
Wake up, Greg.
You have no right to get mad because something didn't go your way.
Or even messed up your plan.
Or was just unexpected.
Or you just felt like getting mad.

Right.
Let's get back to what I was saying.

"It was meant to be."
Or..
"It wasn't meant to be."

Kinda just feels like an excuse.
A way out of figuring out the real problem.

People seem to have given up their control over their lives.
Greg, I am letting you know now that you have control.
You may not have control over emotion, I'm not sure. There is too much biology in that for me to know. I'm a business major, not science.

But whether or not you have control over your emotion, you do have control over your actions.
You even have control over how you choose to percieve.

(Here comes the Inception reference. For those of you who haven't seen it, I'm giving you one last chance to look away.)

The top doesn't stop.
The film just stops without you letting you see the end of the top spinning.
Does it keep spinning?
Does it topple?

I don't think it is a question.

The director, Christopher Nolan, is trying to get across a point, a point that I think most people have yet to see.

It's not a question.
It's a choice.
How do you want to choose to view reality?
You have options.
You have choices.
You are in control.

Do you understand it now?

It's not a question of how things play out.
It's not an answer of the easiest explanation.

It's about you having control over your life.

You have been empowered.
God has given you a special gift- a gift He has only given you.
Have you used it?

Have you even tried to find out what it is?
Or are you just letting life go on auto-pilot, letting it find you in 40 years?

You. Have. Control.

Don't forget that.