Yet, Another Year of Choices
By Barbara Dahlgren
Each New Year brings resolutions we make for changes that will better our lives. Although we usually have every intention of keeping them, all too soon they are abandoned because change is hard. Most of us want changes to instantly happen without any effort on our part. We think if we write them down they will miraculously come to pass. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
That’s why for the past few years I’ve resolved not to make resolutions but to focus on daily choices instead. I have shared these choices with you on this weekly blog. Last year we focused more on passive choices – things we chose not to do. On the surface, consciously “choosing not” to do something may seem complacent, perfunctory, or lazy, but if you’ve followed this blog you will know it’s not. In fact, what we “choose not” to do can take a great deal of thought and self-control, plus save us a lot of present and future trouble. However, this year we will continue with more proactive choices – things we choose to actively do.
Choices we make can affect our lives and the lives of those around us. Right choices can bring peace of mind; wrong choices bring problems. While it’s true God can bail us out of wrong choices, He usually chooses not to do that so we can learn lessons. Even though there are life-lessons we need to learn, our wrong choices will never negate God’s love and forgiveness for us. Those are constants!
Hopefully we all know that God has forgiven us for our sins – past, present, and future. Nothing we can do will ever earn us salvation because it is a gift from God. (Ephesians 2:8) Nothing we can do will make God love us anymore than He does. Christians who perform lists of do’s and don’ts, trying to get God to love them, do not understand God’s grace. God’s love is freely given to us!
However, even though God gives us salvation, grace, and love, He does not automatically give us good habits or moral character. Those qualities are determined by the choices we make. That’s why Paul encouraged the Philippians to put into practice what they had heard or seen in him. (Philippians 4:9) As a result of practicing these right choices, they would receive peace of mind. Jesus said those who practice what He said are like those who build on a solid foundation. (Matthew 7:24)
Consider this… God does not need to zap us when we do something wrong, because wrong choices bring their own penalties. When we make wrong choices we punish ourselves. It’s the cause and effect principle. What we sow, we reap. Although God always forgives us when we make poor choices, the effects remain and we have to deal with and live with them.
While it is true that time and chance happen, many of our problems could be avoided if we trained ourselves to make better choices. A lot of trials are brought on because of our poor choices; other trials may not be our fault, but still we must choose how to respond to them. So there is always an element of choice in everything we do.
So here we go with yet another year of choices! If we resolve to practice making better choices every day, we will have a happier New Year – and so will everyone around us.
Some choice quotes about choices…
“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” ~Roy Disney, co-founder of Walt Disney Productions
“We all make choices but in the end our choices make us.” ~Ken Levine, video game designer and author
“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.” ~William Jennings Bryant, American orator and statesman
“One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words. It is expressed in the choices one makes. In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt
“When it snows you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels.” ~Anonymous
