Well Done!

The world lost an incredible man last week. Bill Alerding wasn’t famous in Hollywood or politics or anything like that, but he was famous all over the world where he and his wife of 42 years, Barbara, shared a lifetime commitment to human development work. This beautiful pair worked in such places as Guatemala, Egypt, Zambia, Nigeria, Indonesia – actually every continent in the world – to help villages become self-sufficient.  Wow, the sheer number of people and lives they impacted is just mind-boggling to me!

I did not know Bill during these times, but had the pleasure of meeting him about two years ago through a program called Breaking Through and would consider myself extremely blessed to call him my friend. Watching him live life to the fullest and seeing his unparalleled love and devotion to his wife will be a continuous reminder to me to live  and love passionately and live life fully because if I do just that , I will not only enjoy life more, but will affect others.

Too many times, we get bogged down in life – and next thing we know, life is over – sometimes before it really is over because of our choices in how we choose to live. Choice is an incredible word – because it gives us complete control. How many times have I blamed someone or something else for having a bad day? How many times have I heard my daughter blame someone else when getting in trouble? How many times have I heard employees blame their bosses or their company for the reason they are unhappy? How many times have I heard CEO’s blame the economy or not having a good staff for having a bad year?  Let’s face it – blaming others doesn’t help in the long run. Yes, you may have a slight relief from having to look inward to see what role you played, but it doesn’t help the situation at hand.

Bill chose to live life – and if you knew him, you could tell life was good. He had this certain twinkle in his eye and bounce in his step. At the end of his eulogy, the pastor and good friend of Bill’s said “well done, Bill, well done.” And I vowed to myself right then and there that I choose to look back on my life and say those same exact words – and looking towards the future by living right now.

What will you choose?