4-16-18<\/p>\n
There are a lot of things in life we cannot control. Or so we tell ourselves, and believe. Self-evidently, there are things that happen outside our power to anticipate or escape or even plan.<\/p>\n
But we also affect more things than we know. Our attitudes affect our altitudes. Our morale influences our morals. And all the other fortune-cookie sayings; cliches are cliches, usually, because they ring true. Heed them\u2026 and realize that the \u201clittle things\u201d are really big things, or might be the seeds of big things to come. You know, \u201cbig oaks from little acorns grow.\u201d That\u2019s true too.<\/p>\n
I have been thinking along these lines, lately, in moody moments when I realize how minor decisions made years ago led to major situations \u2013 places, jobs, friends. Choices have implications. Let\u2019s say a casual choice about a job, or between two places to live, set us on paths with many implications. Sometimes complications, too; but that\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Seemingly casual choices can affect your life situations, and those of your children too \u2013 places, jobs, friends. Spouses, of course.<\/p>\n
None of this is to say that life is doomed to be a game of chance, casual in the extreme. No, it is said in Ecclesiastes that \u201cTime and chance happeneth to all.\u201d This is not a lesson to accept the dictates of a mindless universe; we are not ball bearings in a cosmic pinball machine.<\/p>\n
Just the opposite. As we make life choices \u2013 and life seems to make choices for us \u2013 we do best to remember a couple of things. <\/p>\n
Life is not so random, despite appearances. God orders our steps. He creates opportunities. The \u201ctrick\u201d is to be open to His leading, and not fearful of a soulless fate.<\/p>\n
Even when making choices, we should remain in prayer about the next steps, future opportunities, the fields beyond the horizon we can barely see. Fervent prayer avails much, especially when that prayer enables you to be intentional about your reality.<\/p>\n
Putting yourself in a position to serve God, to please Him in whatever you do, will put yourself in a place of blessing. You will indeed find fulfillment, to see how your dreams merge with life\u2019s joys and God\u2019s Will. <\/p>\n
Never mind what the world tells you about quantum physics, or the results of random choices, or a universe that operates on karma. These things will<\/em> be assigned thanks or blame for this-and-that as long as you wake up every day, and have a pulse. Design your own filing system and use your own Post-It notes when you look back on life. <\/p>\n Chances are you will be wrong. We cannot ascribe a full life \u2013 or even short-term happiness \u2013 to random choices, or no intentionality. We are not<\/em> leaves on streams, but human beings going through life.<\/p>\n Thermometers display temperatures, or our surroundings. They reveal\u2026 but only to a degree (ha). We are positions to be thermostats, however: to set<\/em> the temperatures of our existence. Are we hot? Are we cold? How do we start the day? What choices will we make? What standards do we apply? What situations, among thousands of choices every day, will we face and consider and act upon?<\/p>\n God has given us minds and free will and, most importantly, a channel through which to seek Him; speak to Him; and listen to Him.<\/p>\n And at the end of our lives, when God takes our virtual temperatures \u2013 how we have lived and served Him and walked in His will \u2013 it is in our power to count our blessings\u2026 not count our regrets. Setting that<\/em> course is something we can do now<\/em>, and not wait until the end of our days. <\/p>\n Make that journey worthwhile and joy-filled. You have that choice.<\/p>\n + + +<\/p>\n