Choices.

Life sure does involve a lot of choices, doesn’t it? Almost everything we do is a choice. You make a choice to get out of bed in the morning. You choose what to have for breakfast. You choose what to wear. Throughout the day you are making hundreds and thousands of choices.

This choice making starts from a very young age. I can remember being told to “Make good choices” as I headed out the door as a young teenager. And this past year I must have asked dozens of 5 year olds “What choice are you making?” or “Could you make a better choice?”

When you’re a kid making choices is usually a fun thing. I remember how exciting it was when I would get to choose, all by myself, what I would wear that day – what a thrill! Or I’d get to choose what route we would take to get somewhere. Quite a responsibility. Sure, my parents usually would give me appropriate options to choose from, but still, I was the one making the decision that would shape our day.

As you get older some choices remain exciting: where are we going to go on vacation? What movie are we going to see? What type of car will you buy?

But as you get older, your choices hold more weight. You have an even greater responsibility to make good choices. What kind of job will you have? How are you going to pay your bills? Who are you going to marry? These are big choices and unfortunately they do not always come with pre-approved options. Sometimes you’ll have a world of choices in front of you, and while that is exciting it can also be overwhelming.

Having faith in God often makes it easier. A lot of people trust that He has a plan for their lives and that He will guide them through their choices. And while I believe that is certainly true some of the time, I think that sometimes God might present you with several choices and any one of them could be the right choice. Some might challenge you more than others, but all of them are good options. Then you have to choose: do I want to make the easy choice, or the harder choice that might be more rewarding?

We all have choices to make. Hopefully we have the wisdom to make good ones.