Choices

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.”

                                                                           Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

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We all have choices

Some are easy, some are hard

Some are obvious, some are veiled

We make thousands of choices each day

From the mundane (do I get up, or sleep for five more minutes)

To the profound (am I going to exclude or include, forgive or seek revenge)

Wayne Muller says we only have one choice really

The next one

But of course that choice leads to the next one,

And the next one

And the next one

And our choices become

In a way, like the “breadcrumbs of God”

Our ultimate challenge?

To make the next choice the “right” choice

To make the choice that follows the prompting of the Sacred

We will of course make bad choices

We will wander off the path into the swamp

But God is the great innovator, and gently, or not so gently, nudges us back toward the path

Of course sometimes we get so far off the path, the only choice is to find a new path

Call it Plan B

I think I am on plan Z, perhaps even Z25

And still the choices come

We can choose to hate, chose to lie, choose to grasp, choose to bully, choose to use, choose to abuse

We can choose selfishness and cruelty as values

We can

But if we pay attention to the Sacred

To that presence within, perhaps, perhaps, our choices will be better

Perhaps we will choose love, generosity, compassion

Perhaps we will choose hope, and service

And it is good to remember

Our choices determine our direction

Are we marching toward Zion?

Or wandering into the city dump (otherwise known as Gehenna)

(sorry for those semi-obscure Biblical references, I could not help myself

I choose poorly)

Our choices do more than that

They determine who we are