We make choices all day long; some seemingly small choices.  What to eat, what to wear, how we answer an annoying person, whether to tell a white lie, whether to work diligently or slack just a little, whether to take the time to check on a family member.   These may not be momentous decisions compared to whether to take a certain job, or move, or choose a college.  But even little decisions are based on our values.  Choosing what kind and how much food to eat today ultimately reflects what’s important to me.  Will I take the time to clean and chop vegetables and fruit, or just make a PBJ sandwich?  Will I return a harsh word or smile and try to understand where the grouch is coming from?  Will I set aside my own agenda and take time to give attention to my family?

The more often we choose to live in alignment with our values, the more we grow.  Another way to say this is the more we live according to the truth we know, the more whole we become.  Habitually doing the right thing no matter how small deepens our character and prepares us to receive more truth.

Yesterday I was in our church’s resource center for low-income people.  There was fresh produce, baked goods, and clothing free for the taking.  My attention was drawn to two men who appeared to be substance abusers.  It was hard to guess their age because their choices had been self-destructive, and they weren’t aging gracefully.  It got me thinking.  How many times did they get drunk or high before their consciences became so calloused that they no longer cared that they were destroying their health?  Do they now have any desire to live clean?  At what point do choices bring us to a point of no return?  Were they doomed by their 10^th binge or by their 1,000^th?

This week I read a thought-provoking novel written in 1881 by George MacDonald.  It has a rather slow moving plot, but the genius of the author is in portraying people’s character and the choices they make as they respond to truth.  The stories were sad or glorious as each character made choices that carried them along to an empty or fulfilling  life.  One character’s seemingly small choice changed the rest of her life.  She acted with cowardice and deceit in just a small thing, but it set in motion a series of events that caused her grief the rest of her life.  Another ignored the input of one wiser than she and so missed the benefit of a higher way to live.

Today my husband read me a passage in the New Testament documenting the downward spiral of the religious leaders of the day.  They saw the miracles of Jesus.  They knew the promises of the Torah and the prophets.  They questioned, they debated.  Yet a desire to keep their own power drove them to kill an innocent Man.  They could no longer see or hear the truth.  Their own choices blinded them and doomed them.

I don’t intend this to be a dismal post.  The point I want to make is that we must exercise our free choices to choose what’s right and true.  If we don’t, we will arrive at a point where we are no longer able to choose the right.  If on the other hand, we day by day choose to please God and serve others even in the small things, we will increasingly be aware of the next right thing to do.  Our desires will be pure and we will help others, finding delight for ourselves along the way.