- The Power To Choose

I was listening to a show the other day on CBC radio and the subject was "choices." It got me thinking about life and about the incredible power & privilege we have to make choices. 

When you think about it, life is just one long string of choices, from the moment we learn to walk until the day we die. Is there any other single element in life which can affect our future more than choices? 

From the moment we wake up, there are choices to be made. We choose what time to get up, what to eat for breakfast, which radio station to listen to, what to wear that day, which mode of transportation to take, whether or not to stay at the job we have or quit, whether or not to go back to school, whom to marry, who our friends are, where to live, whether to live selfishly or unselfishly....

One of the points brought out in the radio show was how too many choices can be simply paralyzing. For example, have you ever stood in front of a cereal display in a supermarket and tried to choose a box to bring home?

I mean, it's staggering! Good grief, how many different types of cereal does any one store need!?!?!? It's overwhelming!! Can't we just have 5 or 10 basic ones to choose from and leave it at that??? Not that I should complain, but really!!!

Not only that, we then have to move on to the dairy aisle and choose the type of milk we want - skim, 1%, 2%, Homogenized . . . auggghhhh!

Anyways, that's the Power To Choose. It's the privilege that comes with living in a free society where, for most situations, we are not told what to do. There is no dictator forcing us to submit our wills to his choices; no army watching over what we do or severely limiting our options.

The Power To Choose comes with the power of economic prosperity. People in poverty have very few choices; poverty does not allow for that luxury. And those born into squalor often have zero choices; in fact, they may not even live long enough to ever make a single, independent choice of their own.

The Power To Choose brings responsibility. Do you have The Power To Choose? Then what are you doing with it? What choices are you making? Are they pointing in any specific direction, or are they random choices, made on a whim? 

If you look back over the past year, what are some of the significant choices you made? Are you happy with those choices? Knowing what you know now, do you wish you could have chosen differently? Or would you have made the same choices?

If you look at your choices these days, are they in line with where you want to be a year from now? Are they well thought out choices, or scattered and hasty ones? Are they common sense choices, or are they based on the emotional need of the moment?

You know what I find fascinating? The idea of looking at someone's life and imagining how it would have or could have been so very different if that person had made different choices. I find it so intriguing that an entire human life can be propelled into a vastly different direction because of one small (or not so small) choice.

A pregnancy. A marriage. A job acceptance. A job refusal. The decision to get behind the wheel drunk. The decision to steal something.

I find it mind-boggling that something as small as a choice can alter the course of human history. Or of one person's history. And it makes me want to think very carefully about my choices. 

In fact, I think as young people, we should all be given a mini-manual to read, or a course, or a class on the subject of "CHOICES". I wonder how many lives would be different if we did that. I wonder how many of us know when we start out that we can have an incredibly easier life if we'd only make the right choices.

_________________________________________________

Well, I dunno where all that came from! I just felt like writing about choices, so I did! :) And I'm very happy with the choices I've been making lately - choices to try and do more with my music (not one but two concerts in the planning! One for late May & one for early June), choosing to take it easy at home and not push myself too hard during chemo, the choice to eat lots of chocolate.... (oh, but that last one has SUCH consequences!)

I also have a passion (I know, it's an overused word but I like it!) to see people living intentionally, not squandering their lives, abilities or resources. I've said here on this blog at different times that I think one of the greatest tragedies is to waste our time and resources, and I've suffered far more in the periods of my life where I've felt I've done that than in the period I'm in now, going through chemo.

Speaking personally, I don't think illness is the worst possible thing that could happen to me. It would be far worse for me to feel I was going through life aimlessly, not knowing why I'm here, searching for a purpose and feeling like I'm not finding it. 

I hate that feeling! I hate the frustration of wanting to make a difference but not having a single clue how to do so. The internal churning of knowing there are gifts & abilities within me, yet not seeing any avenues of expression for those talents. I lived like that for many years, feeling trapped & useless.

And now? It's just a delight to wake up every day and feel like I have a reason to get up; that I have found some constructive ways of contributing and giving and helping others. Avenues of expressing the gifts that God has given me, in a healthy and productive manner. 

My health, to be honest, feels very much like a side issue, a necessary reality that needs to be taken care of, much like going to the store to buy needed groceries. I go to the hospital, I get my chemo because it's what I have to do (or, in the context of today's subject, what I've chosen to do); I come home, get some rest, and then jump into one project or another, expressing my gift of writing or planning an event or whatever. How cool is that?

I'm not being Ollie Optimist here (I just made that up!); it's how I really feel! I get to write this Blog, and the Christian Devotional I've been sending out for 4 months now, and I've started writing some new songs again . . . I'm planning those concerts . . . I'm resting (well, not as much as I should) and y'know, life is good!

I'm not in pain, I'm not in discomfort, and there's no nausea. I have a roof over my head, I have enough food to eat, and I'm being treated for cancer at the best hospital in the city (and for free, thanks to socialized medicine). I have plenty of clothes to wear, friends who care about my well being, and Timmy the Cat who keeps an eye on me. 

So from where I'm sitting, life just isn't all that bad right now. And I'm profoundly grateful. Who'd a thunk it, eh? But it's true.

Well, that's about it from me. Have an awesome weekend, and don't forget: think carefully about those choices! The ones you make will determine your tomorrows and carry you into the future . . .


Love, Wendy