You can’t control your first thought, but you can control your second.

That’s a quote I heard many years ago, and it’s one of those ideas that has stayed with me ever since.

In life, we’re given countless opportunities to choose anger, impatience, selfishness, jealousy, or fear. Those are human instincts. None of us can avoid them completely, because we are sinful people in need of a saving God.

But we don’t have to sit with those emotions and let them run our lives after that first thought sparks in our minds and hearts.

Instead of comparison, we can choose contentment. Instead of anger, we can choose grace. Instead of fear, we can choose peace.

None of those responses come naturally or easily. But I’m constantly reminded that in this life, I do have a choice in how I respond, how I act, and how I make someone else feel. Patience may not be my first thought, but I don’t have to let impatience take root and grow.

Pruning away what is ugly and unhealthy isn’t impossible. By God’s grace, the second thought can become the place where something better and more beautiful begins.