_{Live the way you want to be remembered.}

Hi everyone. I’m Sherry Douglas with Heart-Song. As most of the world has seen or heard, the Academy Awards had a surprising incident last week. A supposed joke against a loved one escalated into violence on the part of her husband. The actor has apologized and the host of the show has said he’s not pressing charges. So, does that mean it’s over and forgotten? I doubt it. The actor has had an impressive career and has had amazing roles through the years. Unfortunately, this single act may be the one thing that will always be remembered, no matter what roles he plays or awards he wins. There will be consequences, but let’s hope the world offers grace.

The morning after the Academy Awards, my husband, Mark, said to me, “It’s too bad he didn’t watch your video.” I didn’t understand and asked, “What video?” He replied, “In every video you record for Heart-Song, you say, ‘Live the way you want to be remembered.’” I’ve been thinking about that comment for several days.

We all make wrong decisions and choices as we navigate our lives. We’ve all messed up in some way. Fortunately for us, our harmful decisions aren’t shown to the entire world, talked about by every news commentator, and don’t impact millions of people. But our decisions can still significantly impact the ones we love, our reputations and careers, and our legacy. Here’s the good news, though. Our God knows we’re going to mess up so he provides a way to help us minimize that happening. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, you should pray to God, who will give it to you; because God gives generously and graciously to all.” Instead of reacting to situations immediately, we can stop for a moment, ask God for his wisdom and have great expectations of him to give it to us. He offers this for our benefit.

At Heart-Song, we invite you to make an appointment to create a Life Compass Statement, a personal life-guiding statement that directs the next steps for living your most meaningful life. When you follow this Compass, you will live the way you want to be remembered.

See you next time.