Making Choices

I read a recent editorial that got me thinking about how many choices we make in our lives, and how Americans are have more opportunities to do so that most places in the world. We are fierce about holding onto our right to make choices.

We chose to become a republic rather than be unrepresented colonies in a kingdom.

We have chosen to fight for our freedom and for the freedom of others many times, and there have always been those within our ranks who have chosen not to fight for anything or anyone.

As Americans, we can choose where to live.  We can move from state to state and back again.

We can choose what career we want. We don’t have to go through tests and have a government decide how we’ll be trained or educated, what job we’ll occupy, whether we’ll have the right to an education or not.

We can choose whom we marry.  Our culture doesn’t encourage arranged marriages or selling pre-teen girls to older men, nor do we encourage groups to kidnap, rape and then sell or use girls and boys as suicide bombers.

We can also choose divorce; and sadly, statistics on U.S. marriages say 50% of our couples do. (I choose not to believe that statistic because I haven’t seen that many divorces among couples I know.)  However, if this statistic is true, it means many people choose not to keep vows or love one another when things get difficult.

We can choose to have unprotected sex.

We can also choose whether to have a baby or not. 56 million women have chosen to have a child killed and removed from their womb since 1973.  Grievously, I am one of them.

We can also choose whether we personally live or die.  In some of our states, we can decide to enlist the help of another person to end our life.  Other countries have chosen this path, and now find the choice is no longer an individual one, but we can choose to ignore these facts.

We can choose to believe the ancient philosophy that everyone can do what seems right in their own eyes and everyone will be happier. (How’s that choice working out for us?)

I find Suzy Welch, a well-known journalist, 10-10-10 Rule something to consider.  When you’re about to make a decision, ask yourself how you will feel about it 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years from now.

One decision makes all the difference in every decision each of us will ever make in our life.  Who do you choose to believe in?  Man or God.  The latest religious or political guru or Jesus Christ?  We can choose not to investigate Him and examine His life and find out the truth about who He is.

In truth, the choice you make about Jesus also lets you make the decision of how and where you spend your eternity.  Choice has always been a gift from God. Use it wisely.