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Thoughts for a Woman's Heart |
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encouragement in things that matter |
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Choices
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When my melancholy gets the better of me, I have three choices. Eat chocolate. Go to the mall. (Wal-Mart would also do just fine.) Or, pour out my heart before God, and then be still enough to listen. Our choices shape our lives. Chocolate adds the pounds I definitely don’t need. Plastic money still needs real money to pay the bills at the end of the month. God encourages my spirit, gives me a fresh perspective, and a fresh start. We can make either good choices or poor choices. Only occasionally do they seem to be of the neutral sort. Good choices work hard, give to others, and follow a healthy and a godly lifestyle. Poor choices indulge in selfishness, impatience, and sensuality. Our choices seem to come in sizes too – small, medium, and large – although we may not realize the impact of a choice until after it has already been made. And then, there are the consequences. Good choices, poor choices, small, medium, and large choices – they seldom carry an "oh-well-that-didn’t-matter."
David, the man whose heart longed for God, darkened his own spirit and negatively impacted his own family, because of careless, self-centered choices. Lot chose what he thought was "best" based on a limited personal perspective, and lost almost everything he cared for. Orpah chose the gods of her pagan family of origin, while Ruth chose to cling to the mother-in-law she loved, and chose the living God her mother-in-law served. In our own lives, we can make choices based on the emotion of the moment or our freedom to choose can be sacrificed by failing to even consider the choices that are before us, and we blindly and indiscriminately move ahead in our ignorance. The more deliberately we can make our choices, the greater our potential to live lives committed to God, and complete and satisfied in Him. Wanting God more than anything else, and wanting the "best" that God offers, will keep us listening to and responding to, His Spirit and His Word, and will help us evaluate and deliberately consider the situations our choices arise from. That’s a mouthful and sometimes, a seeming impossibility, when we’re faced with the demands of daily frustrations, but even an awareness of our choices can shape our lives in more fulfilling, God-honoring ways.
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— Bev |
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