Live intentionally

Sometimes I walk through the valley of the shadow of death;
And I start quietly wondering if this is the end.

Then suddenly, I see the sunshine again;
But I still quietly wonder if the real end is not lying in wait;
Somewhere nearby, taking aim at me;
Readying itself for that final pounce...

Yea, I Doubt You sometimes.
I get quick to think I was wrong about You;
That You are not, in fact, with me.

Worse yet, in the counsel of fear, I fix my gaze on the imagined peril.
I am consumed by the imagination of how it will feel to finally succumb.
I die many deaths before my time.

But even in my meanderings, the dream lives on!
It kindles the imaginings of victory;
It reminds me how the future looks, feels, smells.
The dream whispers: it is all a happy ending testimony.

When all is said and done,
It will be said that, indeed,
Courage was not the absence of fear,
But the memory of triumph

Winning, therefore, is but the battle of obsessions;
It is in the absence of intentioned meditations that I die.
Unless I believe, I fear;
Unless I plant flowers, weeds grow;
I die because I stop living.

So look up, mind!
Those thoughts won't think themselves;
Nor will those dreams dream themselves!
Self: live intentionally.