Choices

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Genesis 2:16-17     And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 3:5-6     “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.    (Bold typeset, my addition)

Deuteronomy 30:19     This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live

Joshua 24:15     But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for your selves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5-6     Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.   (Choose him, and He will guide your ways).

Proverbs 16:16     How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver.            

John 3:15     “…that everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him…”

2 Corinthians 3:16-17     But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.     

 

God granted the gift of free choice to man when He created us in His image.  The Lord blessed us with the ability to weigh our options and choose–something.  We can choose the color blue over coral, we can choose fish over steak; or turkey over chicken.  We choose asparagus over carrots, and rice over potatoes or whatever.  Such a blessing when it comes to these kind of choices. 

But the free will also benefited us when it came to naming everything presented to Adam. 

We get to choose to see beauty while traveling and experiencing new things, or we can choose to see the dismal and everything is negative.  I have been blessed as we lived in Germany for a number of years–and I loved and enjoyed all I saw and experienced.   It was so impressive to me to see buildings built in the 1500’s, and still in use.  My daughter in law grew up in a home that was built in 1554.  Yes, it had a modern kitchen, but the pillars were all the original–now seeming to be cement–but were petrified wooden beams.  The stairs climbed almost straight upwards with tiny steps–definitely not comfortable for my confidence in my size 10 foot not sliding or slipping on those narrow steps.  The mountains, the customs, the flowers and the home designs were all lovely to see.   It was easy to travel from one country to another.  And although all had a lot more history than the United States, they could all be different.  Each had its own language–German, French, Italian, Dutch and so forth.  It was fascinating.  I chose to love it, to experience all I could, and to delve into at least the culture differences of Germany from what we celebrate in the US.  I also chose to introduce them to our holidays of Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and so forth.  

I have not seen or been to many of the different states in our own country.  I would love to visit some of the states that border Canada, moving toward Washington and Oregon.  I would love to explore some of our national parks, to see in person the Redwoods in California.  But I did have the opportunity to spend some time in Alaska which I truly enjoyed.  But I love traveling and seeing other areas.  It would be a choice for me to travel to many areas on my list. 

It is wonderful to have choices–and yet that doesn’t not mean we always make the best choices.  We can choose to try “just once” to have a night of drinking and it can possibly lead to a car accident, a fall when someone is hurt severely.  Some choices are HUGE.  Should I move for this new job?  Should I go out with the girls celebrating this engagement?  What will I insist on for my limitations if I do choose to go?   Does that adventure sound like a safe thing to do?  I do not like heights, so should I choose to go on a hike that will take me to a thin walking path along the mountains edge?  Should I let me young children go into that rough, angry looking ocean today?  I am just going to grab that phone fast, and be right out–to find the toddler lying face down in a pool.  Should I take this route or that?  That is city and almost always congested, but this highway is presently dealing with an accident and traffic is not moving at all.  Should I wear the blue dress or this mint green?   Should I choose, steak, chicken or fish for dinner?  We have choices we make daily that can affect our futures.    And can also seem to make choices that have little consequence–painting a room one color with a designated wall a different color.  Paint colors can be easy to change–a little time and a few dollars.

We may choose to wear provocative clothing, to put out signals that could be risqué, could be communicated to others that one has a less inhibited manner than is actual.  There are so many choices we make each day.  Some may choose to do drink alcohol and then find they are over imbibing, and get easily drunk.  And then they choose, initially, to want it each day.  They might even believe they can control their intake.  Yet, being “a little” drunk happens too often.  Hopefully, they are not choosing to also drive, and have a driver, have a taxi, or have some other way to get SAFELY home.

I like the fact we have the ability to choose.  Does that mean I have always made the right choices?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!   I think, by far it is easier for me to count up the incorrect choices than the right and best choices.  Has God turned my bad choices into good?  Yes, almost always–it may have taken quite awhile, but I could eventually see less of my mistaken choices and more of His goodness and grace in changing things to improve for me.  I chose to spontaneously choose to sell my home several miles from here–but I did NOT want to sell.  I should have rented it out, and given it a year or so, and then decided to sell or not.  I was unhappy when I moved here full time–even though I had chosen  to sell my home in another town.  My choice had been wrong, spontaneous, and I yearned for the social contacts and world I lived in in my town.  But I thought ocean, sound, and beautiful views, and a good church were enough.  But I was lonesome.  I knew that as soon as I got an offer on the selling house within 2 days.   “NO< I DON’T WANT TO SELL.”  But then I felt trapped and unable to change my mind.  I had royally made a MISTAKE.  But over time, God opened doors for me and I got more settled, more comfortable, found more comfortable niches.

I love free choice, but I do not always choose the best path.  I sometimes choose from a spontaneous desire, some supposed need or want.  I can find myself being enthusiastic and jump into a situation I think I must have–and although I have gotten better about asking God to lead my paths–I have been known to NOT wait for a direct answer.  I am so much like Sara, urging her husband Moses to jump into bed with my maid Haggar–although I am NOT patient, and have been known to jump God’s timetable.  But, because of my impatience, I have screwed up, suffered because of my choices, and my decisions.   Rarely do I still insist on Kathy’s way NOW, but the tendency can still be there.  However, I have learned it is not totally Kathy–it is Satan with his quiet, evil whispering, urging me to follow this route..  

 I lean into God now.  I don’t trust myself any longer.   I yearn to hear what God wants me to do–I do NOT want to mess up and jump ahead of what God wants for me, and what I think I choose for the time being.  I want God’s choice for my life.  I do know He knows best and even though I deal with my impatient personality; this is NOT who and what I want to be.

Lord, I am NOT without sin, and without jumping Your timeline, but I need You to correct me before I make any mistakes.  My mistakes hurt.  They have caused me heartache.  And that is NOT the choice I want for my life.  Lord, You have made my bad choices come out well, but sometimes the time involved was a longer healing time than I would have preferred.  Lord, You have covered me time and again and been there for me and ‘mybellaviews.’