Creating Our Own Destiny

"Destiny is...a destination, the way we are headed at any given time. Destiny does not make us; we make destiny...We are not puppets, pulled by heavenly strings, nor the play things of chance..." R. H. Grenville

I've seen people prosper when the economy was grim. I've seen people outlive their prognosis by years. I've seen lonely people find love and angry people find peace. I've seen people who had suffered abuse forgive their batterers and move on to live joyful lives.

You see, our past need not be our future. Circumstances can't define us, nor can they determine what will become of us. "Destiny does not make us; we make destiny." As Rev. Dr. Johnnie Colemon used to say, "I am the thinker who thinks the thought."

We get to choose our thoughts, and the thoughts we habitually think will create our attitudes and our attitudes will determine how we view and experience life. Neither parents nor schools nor doctors nor even churches can determine what we believe about ourselves or how we will experience our lives. We are the ones who will make those decisions. Destiny isn't our fate, it's just the direction we seem to be going at the moment. If we don't like it, we get to change direction. We aren't puppets; we are the creators of our own destiny.

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins