Today, I Choose!
Joshua 24:15 “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Think about the volume of choices we, as humans, make in a single day. Decision-making invades every minute of our day. Granted, most of these choices are insignificant, such as, what semi-healthy dinner option can I find hidden in the freezer, which bill should be paid today, and which ones could wait till pay-day, and do we have anything visibly clean to wear if laundry is put off another day. And, this list goes on and on and on!
There are relatively few times in life requiring us to make those monumental, lie-awake-at-night decisions. (Thank goodness!) But, those pesky small decisions consume us. So, the question is: Do these small decisions matter? Well, if they were a simple math equation, we would say, the sum of the parts adds up to the whole. When we realize that all our small decisions add up to determine the whole of our character, then, yes, they matter. How we choose to live every minute of every day can shape who we are and change the direction of our life. So, as we contemplate the numerous decisions we will make today, let us, like Joshua, choose wisely.
Today, choose to forgive. It is easy to carry around a ton of resentment and anger, but we can lighten our load by extending to others the forgiveness we have received. So today, choose to shed that weight by freely forgiving. It is the best weight-loss program around. Guaranteed! (Luke 6:37)
Today, choose to see the good in others. Let us put on godly glasses that filter out the negative and focus on the graciousness and goodness of others. Choose to be blind to the shortcomings of those around us and our Lord will be blind to ours. (Colossians 3:13-14)
Today, choose happiness. Smiles have no language barrier, cost us nothing, and are contagious. So, what if today we make the effort to greet all humans with a contagious smile before greeting them with words? If we will put a smile on our face, we will soon find ourselves happier than a bird with a french fry. And, when we are a bird with a french fry, all other birds will flock to us! (Philippians 4:4)
Today, choose to be grateful. What if we choose to focus on the new mercies of God coming our way daily instead of our daily problems? What if we began looking at our problems as blessings in disguise? If we would look closely at our problems today, we would realize that most of them are “first-world problems” resulting from our affluent lifestyle. A refrigerator that goes on the blink frustrates us to no end. But, when we stop and realize that most of the world lives without the luxury of refrigeration, we can view this as our “first-world problem” of the day. So, remember that blessings can be disguised in frustrations and choose, today, to discover the blessings. (I Thessalonians 5:18)
Today, as we make these and many other choices, may we never underestimate the power of our minute by minute decisions. Remember, as goes our minutes, so goes our hours. As goes our hours, so goes our days. As goes our days, so goes our years. As goes our years, so goes our life. As goes our life, so determines our eternity. Every small decision of our day should be motivated by the ONE we serve. And, like Joshua, with all our choices, may we serve the Lord.
Lord, may our minute-by-minute, small, daily decisions be godly choices we deliberately make as we seek an eternity with you.
Blessings,
Rita