The quality of your life is a direct result of the choices you make
My mother-in-law is one of the wisest and (not surprisingly) contented people I have ever been around. The reason? She knows that life is a series of choices, you make good ones, and you make bad ones. That’s it and that’s all. Sometimes I wonder what she’s thinking. Seriously, I can’t tell. She has that sly smile that suggests she has it all figured out. I think her favorite phrase is, “Oh, well!”
Here is a fact: You are where you are because of the choices you’ve made. I am where I am because of the choices I’ve made. This goes for everyone regardless of their circumstances. I know people battling cancer. You might say, “That wasn’t their choice!” True, but the people I know who have cancer have chosen to travel more than they ever traveled. They’ve chosen to love like they never loved. They’ve chosen to fight like they never fought. They’ve chosen not to be a victim.
The other day I made a mistake. I chose to criticize someone else’s choices. Bad choice. I now realize that their choice is their choice. I should have said, “Oh well!” Nobody wins by going down the road I chose to go down.
I once worked with a woman who was very sensitive. She was easily offended. It seemed every day her feelings were hurt by something or someone. People, in turn, walked on egg shells around her. Some avoided her all together. I was one of them. Who needs the drama? What she didn’t realize was that she was choosing to be offended by people. She was choosing her reactions to what people said and did. Often, it was the wrong choice. Imagine how many conflicts could have been avoided in her life. Imagine how much sleep she lost! Imagine how many relationships she missed out on because of her choices.
Here’s another amazing thing about choices. You can choose your own truth! I was recently passed over for a job. Now, I don’t know why and probably never will. I might have said something wrong. They may not like the way I dress. They might not think I have the right education. They may have something against baldness. I don’t know. But I choose to believe that they really like me. I choose to believe it killed them to pick another candidate. I choose to believe it’s for the best. I choose my own truth. Oh well!
Choices. God gave them to us. He didn’t have to. He could have created a bunch of people and given them the ability to make just one choice—the right choice—every time. It would have avoided that whole apple-in-the-garden thing. It also would have made us inhuman.
Along with life, came the gift of choice.
And the choice is yours.
