Tuesday 29 October 2013

Choose Well

Life is full of choices and we are faced with a barrage of these choices daily. What to eat, where to live, what to wear and how to behave in the face of acceptable cultural and societal conventions. Should I or Should I not? Can I or can I not? Every choice no matter how silly or mundane carries its own relative consequence. As I sit typing this post after eating a fresh bowl of spicy pepper soup with unripe plantain-you guessed right, absolute heaven- my mind flipped back to the choices I made in the past; my reactions in the wake of difficult situations. How I allowed hurt and bitterness to drive my choices and its ensuing consequences. A great writer once said "we are the product of our choices" and that's so true. When life throws you lemon you have the option of making lemonades or gritting your teeth from biting into its acidic juice. That same lemon can be bitter or sweet depending on how it’s used. It’s easy to forget we have choices when we are hurt or offended. Wendy Blight writes that "we can surrender our hurt or hold on to it. We can harbour bitterness or extend grace". The truth is if you look back at your life in years to come would you be happy with the choices you make today? I have become more deliberate and calculative in the choices I make. I have learnt to choose peace over worry and faith over fear. You see worry and fear are not productive feelings rather they are energy seeping emotions so why live with them? My new guiding principle is "worry looks around, regrets looks back But FAITH LOOKS FORWARD". I CHOOSE TO LIVE BY FAITH! I choose LIFE. When faced with situations I can’t handle, I quickly roll it over to the person who has the track record of coming through on knotty issues and the rest they say is easy peasy.”Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."Philipians4:6-7. What an assurance we have!!
Since moving into my new house, my bills have increased and so has my FAITH. The lord has not brought me this far to ABANDON ME....never!! My God does not swing that way. Good choices are not borne from emotions rather from a position of grace, love, joy, kindness, forgiveness and CHOICE. I have also made a choice to LIVE AND ENJOY LIFE "not conformed but transformed by the life giving WORD OF GOD. What about you? Be mindful of the choices you make today, make the right ones.