Life Changing Moments
We make them all day long in a million situations, so why are some choices so easy and some so hard? Complexity, weightiness, timing, cost, opinions, repercussions, collateral damage, so many factors can be in play. So how can we do this well?
The choices we make today shape the direction our lives take tomorrow.
Choices, big or small. We always want to make the correct call, right?
There are tons of factors and influencing voices involved in decision-making. All in all, they are still our choices to make. I remember a trip to Russia the summer after the wall came down. I was shocked at the almost total inability of the people there to make even the smallest decisions on their own. Seventy years of being told every single thing to do and never having the freedom to make their own choices had very obvious effects upon the people. They were very well versed in history, art, and science. All seemed to have some level of education in these areas, but in what we call common sense or decision-making, they were stifled or undeveloped. Today I see this same thing in overprotected children that never are allowed or encouraged to make their own choices. Today in the USA we have college-aged kids who do not possess the power of making good choices on their own. Like the Russians in the first years of freedom, these students are being exploited because of this inability to make wise choices. They soon have overwhelming student loans and credit card debt looming over their heads and hopelessness gripping their lives. They are not being prepared to make decisions at home or school. We have so many immigrants coming into our country who take the base level jobs. Our kids used to hold those jobs that developed their work ethic and decision-making skills.
Not that immigrants are bad, I am just saying that things are different today compared to even a decade ago. Therefore, we must work to train our children and ourselves how to make better and wiser choices. Decisions are not only in the daily things of life but also in spiritual things as well! Four decades ago most kids knew how to milk a cow. Today, most kids do not know that milk comes from a cow! They are afraid of it if it’s not “organic,” even though they have no idea what that means! We fill them with fear, not wisdom, or experience. Someone might respond, “Well, they all have the internet!” That may be a big part of the problem. If the internet was actually the infallible word of all wisdom that might work, but it leads them to a million and one bad choices while they are looking for the right choice! This brings me back to those spiritual things!
Most generations of Americans were raised with an understanding of one absolute authority that would never fail them. There is one real infallible truth that built our country’s base moral fiber and held us in a common unity up until the last few decades of American history. That truth was inscribed on the walls of our justice system and the halls of our Congress. It was written into our establishing documents and ratified with the blood of the brave men and women before us. The Truth! The Word of God! The Bible! The present-day ministry of the Holy Spirit! This is the ultimate standard by which wisdom is gained.
The Word of God is the one true source of how to live, love, invest, treat people, and win in life by making great choices. It’s your choice! What will you use to help you make the next choice? The internet or The Truth?
Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV)
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; …… Your call! Today it is your choice! Your kids are watching! You also influence others; they are watching, too.
I am not trying to be condemning, I am trying to point the way to making great choices in your life and teaching others how to do the same.
Your Choices are so important! They link together and reveal your true heart and integrity. They define your destiny.
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