Getting the Desired Result

Last year, I took my grandson Jacob to watch his beloved Jacksonville Jaguars play. His dad, my son, Ben, Jr., usually took him to the games, but on this particular Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure of taking him. I was excited about this as I knew how much he loved the Jags and how he even knew the players' numbers and positions. Indeed, he was a real student of the game and, in fact, played quarterback on a ‘little league’ football team. But most importantly, this was a day that he and I could share something in common together. Little did I know that he would enlighten me about how to handle what life serves up.

During halftime of the game, he became a little bored and asked me if I had a quarter. I found that indeed I did and handed it to him. He started flipping the quarter and called out “heads” as he flipped it. Once it landed in his hand he’d see if it landed with the ‘head’ up. If it did he’d say, “YES!” If it landed with the ‘tail’ up he’d simply flip it over to his other hand, whereupon it would then be a ‘heads up!’ Again, he’d say, “YES!” To amuse himself and to change the monotony of just calling heads all of the time, he’d call “tails” sometimes. But he’d practice the same procedure of flipping the coin and looking at it to determine if it came up as he had called. If it didn’t, he would flip it over to his other hand in order to get the result he wanted.

I watched with great interest and took in an important life lesson my 10-year-old grandson was unconsciously imparting:

When things arrive in your life that you do not want, YOU have a choice to accept what happens or you can take action to ‘flip-it’ and get your ultimate desired result.

It’s not what happens to us, it’s the choices you make afterward that matter.