It happened one day on the school playground when I was in 5th grade. A girl who I thought was my friend suddenly called me a “blockhead.” As all the surrounding kids laughed, she went on shouting that my head was too big for my… Continue Reading “Choosing to Let My Shame Be Covered”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Abased, Accused, Anguish, Bad Reputation, Blame, Condemnation, Condemned, Conscience, crime, Crisis, Culpability, Degraded, Discredited, Disgraced, dishonor, Dishonored, Dismay, Embarrassed, Embarrassing, Embarrassment, Error, Fault, guilt, Guilty, Humbling, Humiliation, Ill repute, Infamy, Loss of Face, Mortified, Notoriety, notorious, Offence, Put Down, Regret, Remorse, Repentance, Sad, Scandal, Scandalized, Self-Condemnation, Self-disgust, Self-hatred, shame, Shameful, sin, Sorrow, Stain, Stigma
Posted on August 11, 2025
by Jeff Herringshaw
1 Comment
I like to feel good. It’s a basic urge within me to chase happiness wherever I think it can be found. My country’s Declaration of Independence affirms the pursuit of it to be an inalienable right. When I imagine myself in a happy state,… Continue Reading “Choosing Something Other than Happiness”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Changed Perspective, Comfort, Comfortable, Cry, Delight, Delighted, Enjoy, Excited, Faith, Fruit of the Spirit, God, God's Presence, Grief, Happiness, Happy, Holy Spirit, Hope, Jesus, Joy, love, Miserable, Misery, Mourn, My Life Sucks, New Perspective, Out of Control, Peace, Perspective, Pleasurable, Pleasure, Rejoice, Relationships, Sad, Sadness, Suffer, Suffering, The Cross, Uncomfortable, Weep, Weeping
It hit the airwaves just before I graduated from high school. And though I never absorbed any of the lyrics except the first line, I found myself humming and singing those few words over and over. There was also a movie and TV series… Continue Reading “Choosing a FOREVER Life”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Cheating Death, Conquering Death, Death, Delayed Gratification, Elves, Eternal Life, Eternal Value, Eternity, Faith, Fame, Famous, Forever, Fulfilled Life, Fulfillment, Getting Old, God's Promises, Heaven, Hope, I want to die young, Immediate Gratificationh, immortal, immortality, Incorruptible Body, Incorruptible life, Instant Gratification, Legacy, Life, Live forever, Long life, Long Term, Long Term Riches, love, Materialism, My Legacy, Never Ending, Never Ending Life, Old, Old Age, Pain, Perseverance, Remembered, Resurrection, Short Term, Too Old, Trust God
I always saw myself as a laid-back, easy-going person. That was until my first year of teaching remedial English to 8th graders in a California inner-city school. My carefully composed lesson plans were sabotaged daily by 13 and 14 year olds who derived perverse… Continue Reading “Choosing to Step Back and Wait”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Calmness, Composure, Cool, Endurance, Endure, Faith, Forbearance, Fortitude, Fruit of the Spirit, Grit, Hope, Jesus, Long Suffering, love, Patience, Patient, Peace, Renewal, Renewed Strength, Restraint, Serenity, Stoic, Stoicism, Suffer, Tolerance, Toleration, Wait, Wait on the Lord
Posted on July 21, 2025
by Jeff Herringshaw
1 Comment
I first smoked a cigar in college. Somehow, I had managed to avoid all tobacco before that. When I joined several other film students in a project to tell a story set during a poker game, we decided our set needed to be filled… Continue Reading “Choosing What I REALLY Want”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Accepted, Accomplish, Accomplishments, Appetites, Attracted, Attractive, Christ, Christian, Complete, Completed, Confident, Delight, Desire, desires, Embraced, enamored, Faith, Fill me, Fill me up, Filled, Focus, Fulfilled, Fulfillment, Give it to me, Give me, God, Hope, Hunger, I need, I want, Image, Jesus, Joy, Longing, love, Loved, lust, Needs, Peace, Real Desire, Received, Satisfied, Satsifaction, Seek, Seeking, Thirst, Thought Life, Unshakable, Want, Wants
I loved to do pencil drawings when I was a kid. I received so much affirmation from my sketches that I decided at an early age that I should learn to paint and become a professional artist. But the problem was that for every… Continue Reading “Choosing the Process Over the Product”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Avoidance, bad choices, Complete, Correct, Do it right, Driven, Failure, Failure is unacceptable, Faith, fear, Fear of Failure, Fear of making mistakes, Feeling insecure, Flatland, Get it done, Give Up, Giving Up, good choices, Heart Transformation, Hope, I cannot fail, impossible standards, Insecure, Insecurities, Intimacy with God, Intimacy with Jesus, love, Mature, Maturity, Mistakes, Outside the Box, Pefection, Perfect, Perfect Person, Perfectionism, Perfectionistic, Personal Value, Quit, Quitter, Relationship with God, Right or Wrong, Self condemnation, Self condemning, Self Doubt, Spiritual Maturity, The correct way, The Wrong Way, Transformation, Unrealistic, Unrealistic expectations, Value
A good story almost always requires a villain. Everyone loves to detest and blame that guy who is despicable. And what is easier to despise than a creep motivated by pure greed? In movies, a hero commonly struggles against a filthy rich tycoon or… Continue Reading “Choosing to Avoid Avarice”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: 1%, 7 Deadly Sins, Appetite, Avarice, covet, Covetousness, Cupidity, Desire, Empowerment, Excess, Faith, Finances, Financial Security, generosity, Generous, Give, Give to the Poor, Gold, greed, Greediness, Hope, Idolatry, In God We Trust, Investment Portfolio, Investments, love, Love of Money, lust, Mammon, Material Wealth, miserly, Money, Money and Power, Money Worship, Neediness, Needy, Poor, Poverty, Power, Provision, Rich, Riches, Self Sufficient, Selfishness, Silver, sin, Sinful, Spiritual Wealth, Sticky Fingers, Stinginess, Stock Exchange, The 1%, The Man, The Rich, Treasure, Treasure in Heaven, Trust God, Value, Wall Street, Wealth, Wealthy, Worship
My desire as a boy was to be strong. Being verbally and physically picked on in elementary school, I became fascinated with the idea of becoming powerful. The longing to prove my strength led to a few fights and endless daydreaming of what that… Continue Reading “Choosing Strange Strength”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Abuse, Apathy, Benevolent, Brave, Bullied, Bully, Caring, Courage, Dominance, Dominate, Faith, fear, Firm, Firmness, forbearing, Force, Forcefulness, Forgiving, Gentle, Gentleness, Gracious, Hope, Humble, Humility, Jesus, Kind, kindhearted, Kindness, love, Loving, Meek, Meekness, Merciful, Mild, Potency, Power, Powerful, Quiet, Quiet Strength, softhearted, Steady, Strength, Strong, Sympathetic, Tender, Timid, Timidity, Tough, Toughness, Trusting God, Turn the other cheek, warmhearted, Way of Jesus, Weak, Weakness
The Sahara can be a lonely and disheartening place. I’ve been to this endless North African sandbox several times. Its beauty, overshadowed by the harshness and potential for disaster, was often not seen till after I returned home and reviewed my photos. On one… Continue Reading “Choosing to Not Curse the Wilderness”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Desert, Desert Experiences, Despairing, Don't Give Up, Dry Seasons, Endurance, Faith, God has abandoned me, God Speaks, Growing, Growth, Hearing God's Voice, Hope, Hopeless, I can't feel God, I don't feel God's love, I give up, I'm alone, love, Never Alone, Not Abandoned, Not surviving, Perseverence, Refreshment, Spiritually Dry, Springs in the Desert, Survival, Surviving, Tired, Tired of life, Where is God?
A few years back, some friends asked if I would keep their car while they spent a few months working in Asia. I could use it as a second vehicle if I took care of it. It ended up being a great deal for… Continue Reading “Choosing to Claim Nothing As My Own”
Category: Daily ChoicesTags: Arrogant, Care, Caretaker, Caretaking, Clinging, Clingy, custodian, desires, entrusted, Faith, Faithful, fear, Fearful, Fearless, Fiduciary, gratitude, guardian, Hope, Hubris, Humility, It's not mine, keeper, love, Mine, My Stuff, Open-handed, Ownership, Personal Property, Poor, Poverty, Pride, protector, Proudful, Relationships, Release, Releasing, Responsibility, Rich, Self-gratification, Sentry, Serve, Serving, Shepherd, Stewardship, Superintendent, Thanksgiving, Trust, Trust God, Trusting, Trustworthy, Unselfish, warden, Wealthy, Wisdom, Wise
Choose This Day 