Messages on candy wrappers

As I sat at my desk and enjoyed a Dove dark chocolate morsel this afternoon, I looked down to see the message on the inside wrapper..........."Live in the present, forgive your past." I couldn't help but think of all the chocolate bar wrappers that we ran across in Southern Africa. Some said things like "Happy Birthday" while others said, "Miss you" or "Love you lots" and it got me to thinking.

Lately, it seems, I do a lot more thinking than I ever did in the past. Of course, I think about the past, a lot. How can I not think about the past? But sometimes I wonder if I hold on to the past a little too much. I wonder if I dwell too much on my perception of what was truly going on and what I thought I had. What if things didn't work out when I got back? Maybe this is how things are 'supposed to be.' But still the words of John Mayer ring out in my head, 'everything happens for a reason is no reason not to ask myself if I am living it right?' I mean, saying that "everything happens for a reason," kind of discounts our own decision making process in our lives, doesn't it? Or are the decisions that we make already predetermined?

Do we already have a predetermined plan in life? Or is life a consequence of the everyday decisions we make?

Until later........I'll be thinking.......