Yes, I am a big Harry Potter fan. I have read all the books once, or twice... and listened to them all three times...or maybe four... (Jim Dale is the best narrator ever! Seth and I love to listen to his audio books while we're on road trips. Once, we drove all the way to Wyoming from Cleveland, and when we arrived, we stayed in the car to finish listening to book 7 of Harry P! It was that good.) With that intro, today I'm thinking about something Dumbledore said (well J.K. Rowling),
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets)
Little Harry is confused because he has many of the same abilities as Voldemort (the really bad guy), and he wonders if he will be a bad guy too. Dumbledore's wisdom is so apt and needed. Truly, what we can do is not who we are. It is what we choose to do that shows who we are.
I have often gotten caught up in defining myself by my abilities, or my accomplishments. And in times of trial and illness, when those abilities and accomplishments are taken away, I get lost, and wonder who I really am. But this is distorted thinking. I cannot control the circumstances of my life, and my worth is not determined by the things I can do. The important thing is what I choose to do. I can control that, moment by moment. And that is what will cause me to become who I will become. And now, I am a sum of my choices. So I will choose well. And when I mess up (which is inevitable), I'll rise up, dust myself off, and move forward in choosing the right.
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." (Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets)
Little Harry is confused because he has many of the same abilities as Voldemort (the really bad guy), and he wonders if he will be a bad guy too. Dumbledore's wisdom is so apt and needed. Truly, what we can do is not who we are. It is what we choose to do that shows who we are.
I have often gotten caught up in defining myself by my abilities, or my accomplishments. And in times of trial and illness, when those abilities and accomplishments are taken away, I get lost, and wonder who I really am. But this is distorted thinking. I cannot control the circumstances of my life, and my worth is not determined by the things I can do. The important thing is what I choose to do. I can control that, moment by moment. And that is what will cause me to become who I will become. And now, I am a sum of my choices. So I will choose well. And when I mess up (which is inevitable), I'll rise up, dust myself off, and move forward in choosing the right.
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