GOOD THINKING: WE'RE SELECTIVE IN OUR INSTANT REPLAY

I watched the Super Bowl Game. There were shouts as the winning team celebrated. There were tears of frustration and sorrow as the losers hung their heads and walked off the field. Now, through the miracle of instant replay, both winners and losers can relive this event -- again and again.

Life is made up of "wins" and "losses." We all succeed sometimes. We all fail sometimes, but isn't it amazing that (1) we take all the credit for the successes and (2) we tend to blame someone else for the failures.

In the process of winning and losing, we get hurt; we also hurt others. However, we all have to magnify our hurts and to minimize the fact that we have hurt someone else. We talk at great length about how we have been slighted and hurt. We say little or nothing about the time we have slighted or hurt those around us.

God, the Great Judge, has a handy record of everything that has ever happened to us! Every thought, every word, every act we've ever committed is recorded in our memory bank. As we play the Game of Life, all God has to do on Judgment Day is to "play back" everything we have recorded in our memory. That's frightening!

Most of us enjoy our memories, the instant replay of the things we've said and done over the' years! We do enjoy reliving our past. Some things, however, we conveniently forget; we try to suppress certain memories because they are too painful for us to recall. We are selective in what we remember. Some of us choose to replay the slights, the hurts, the losses and the failure we've experienced. Some of us choose to replay the good times, the successes and the victories, and to forget about the failures and hurts. Some of us do, in fact, forget and forgive!

The Game of Life is too short to dwell on our failures, to harbor grudges and grievances against another, to carry hatred and anger in our hearts. Life should be filled with good things, good experiences and good memories. It's our choice to make!

Hopefully when we replay the record of our past, the memories will be good ones and will fill us with great joy!