"It has been said that, the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do peoples lives. The Choices we make determine our destiny" Thomas S Monson.
Life is so full of Choices. These choices are presented to us almost constantly everyday and broadly speaking, life's choices can be categorised into those that will move you forward and those that will move you backwards in your path of life. There is no neutral point.
And because of this lack of neutrality, one ought to be diligent in ensuring that the choices are made deliberately and that they should be consistent with the life one desires to live.
You pretty much CONTROL the course of your destiny by the choices and decisions you make. The question then therefore is how much in CONTROL are you of your destiny right now?
What kind of decisions have you been making lately, what kind of things are you choosing or not choosing to do, listen to, or partner with?
Control as defined by the Oxford English dictionary is the power to influence the course of events, and I have come to believe that this really begins with yourself.
How much in control are you of yourself(Some erroneously believe that this is God's responsibility, no, it is yours), how clear are you of what you want out of life(to different people, this means different things), how clear are you for example of where you are going to spend eternity - just a thought, hmm..
In general, you exercise control of your destiny by the following means; in the books you read, in the friends you keep company with, the person you choose to marry, the jobs you take on, you name it, but most importantly your choice to accept or not to accept Jesus as Lord and personal saviour.
Depending on which decisions you make based on the choices presented to you, some decisions will improve you, and some will damage you. You will always have choices presented to you, the decisions you make are up to you!
There is a wiser way to stay in excellent control of your life; and that is by relinquishing control to the Holy Spirit and then you follow His leadership.
Prior to me fully appreciating this excellent way of taking control of my life, I thought about my own Choices...good or bad, and I noticed that they have the following characteristics:
The Good Choices;
My best experiences tend to be with activities that are intellectually challenging and spiritually enlightening because they demand a lot from me in terms of my focus & meditation.
When I am through with such an activity, I feel good about myself and content with how I've spent my time.
I find that I've learnt something worth knowing or developed a skill worth having, it also helps me understand something I hadn't understood before and or makes me sympathetic to experiences & situations I was closed to.
There is a general consensus that good choices often are:
- Energizing. The experience itself charges you up spiritually, emotionally & intellectually. You have greater strength and endurance because of it,
- They build your confidence because you know that you are improving yourself,
- They leave you happy. During the experience and afterwards; you have a strong sense that you are doing the right thing.
The Bad choices;
When i look back over the years, despite some of my great choices and experiences, I have also done lots of other things that did destroy, reduce or disable my potential.
The interesting thing about bad options is how attractive they can be. Nobody would argue that they are good choices.
We pick them because sometimes we are too weak to pick anything else & we use what little mind we have left to rationalise our self destruction - (things will get better, we tell ourselves)
Bad choices are alluring. There is something about the way the experience takes you out of yourself that you find appealing.
To avoid this, follow what the bible teaches; "Be sober & Vigilant" . At least then you would be able to 'catch' yourself and avoid getting into self destructive behaviours and ways of life.
See, bad choices; attract bad company. Since most wise people won't approve of it, you find yourself doing it with another set of friends.
Eventually, you reject the friends and family members who don't "get it."
They are too strait-laced or lame to understand, so you figure you don't need them in your life.
Bad choices also have a tendency of disabling you intellectually, emotionally, and physically. While engaging in activities of bad choices, you are less capable of performing complex skills or dealing with complex emotional or intellectual issues. If you engage in these activities a lot, you become less capable of peak performance generally.
With the leadership of the Holy Spirit, it is different, you find that you exercise a lot of discernment.
The information you base your decisions on is very important, and you will be so apt to discern the source of the information and its reliability.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 says; “Prove all things, hold fast that which is good”, it goes further to say in verse 22 that “Abstain from all appearance of evil.
If you did what the preceding portions of scripture say, your chances of making excellent decisions is almost guaranteed.
Try it out, don’t just reject or accept anything at face value, there is a purpose for everything, discover it especially if it happens to be around your domain/territory. Nothing comes or happens to you by accident, no.
Resist making decisions based on assumptions. Get the facts right by the help of the Holy Spirit. Never rush. Every decision you make counts.
Remember there is no neutral point; you are either moving forward or backwards with every decision you choose to make.
I am reminded of what Moses told the children of Israel ages ago:"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" Deuteronomy 30:19
Yet another defining moment for the children of Israel came when Joshua said: "....choose you this day whom ye will serve;.....as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD" Joshua 24:15
Today, all that humanity will ever need is found in Christ Jesus, and not only does it make perfect sense to choose Jesus now, it is also the ultimate destiny for glory and a great life in eternity.
Have you Chosen Jesus yet?
You see, every decision you make will be tested. It will be tested by people’s opinions, and even circumstances of life, and at this moment of testing, some people immediately change their mind and drawback, others persist for a while but eventually succumb to the emotional and peer pressure and drawback as well.
The real victors are those who against the odds and seemingly insurmountable opposition, opinions, keep their focus and refuse to back down or give up.
They burn their bridges at the onset and determine to follow through to the very end; failure for them is not an option. Their minds are made up for success and they understand that any setback is only momentary.
Be bold, strong & courageous.
Choose to be one of them who don’t drawback and who stands strong. Keep your focus on Jesus and decide to make your tomorrow better by choosing excellent choices today. You can do it, ask for the help of the Holy Spirit.
With the choices life presents to you, make your decisions count for eternity.
Peace & love
Libs
