Think of all the time and effort you’ve put into your own life and into the lives of those around you. Think of all the time and effort invested by others in your life.

You cannot possibly pay all that back, and you’re not expected to. What you can do is remind yourself every day how fortunate you are.

What you can do is commit yourself with every thought and action to make the best use of that good fortune. What you can do is fulfill those hopes, going back generations, for a life well lived.

Right now you have the opportunity to deploy your good fortune in a positive direction. Right now you can live with a higher sense of purpose than ever before.

You can engage your discipline, skill, compassion, and creativity in ways that bring new goodness into being. You can raise your expectations and then do the work to exceed those expectations.

Whatever else you may or may not have, you have a life that’s very much worth living very well. Choose right now, and do everything in your power to make that happen.

— Ralph Marston