Choices

“Any day we wish; we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish; we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish; we can start a new activity. Any day we wish; we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.” The previous quote is by Jim Rohn. Jim Rohn is a motivational speaker and life coach to many successful people.

‘This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life...” Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV

Life is filled with choices. In fact, everything we do involves choices. I spoke with a newspaper reporter the other day and was encouraging her to “spin” an article in a positive way for churches instead of choosing to make it negative. Her response was, “I just report the news. I can’t really control how it comes out.”

I told her, “Sure you can. You have a choice every time you report the news how you will spin it, and you DO put your spin on every article you write.

It’s the truth. Every reporter whether newspaper or other media puts their spin on every article or report. It is very hard not insert your personality and values into everything you do. She did a good job on the article by the way.

My point is that everything in life is a choice. God said to the people of Israel, “I set all these things before you and even tell you what I think you ought to choose, but the final choice is yours.” You can choose to be joyful or grumpy. I can’t control all the things that happen around me, but I do control how I react to them and my attitude as a result.

We make attitude choices that set a tone for our day when we get up every morning. We make attitude choices at work that impact our decisions. We choose to do right or wrong, to lie or tell the truth, to act honestly or dishonestly. I picked up the following story from an illustration resource I use, but it’s been told so many places I am not sure what the original source or original story was. Stories on the internet tend to get expanded as they are told and retold so I can’t even vouch for the truth of all the details, but the message of choices is still there.

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, "I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Michael replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or.... I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
"Yeah, right, it’s not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Michael said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what Michael said. Soon after, I left to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it. Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon to be born daughter, "Michael replied.”Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Michael continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read "he’s a dead man. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me. Said Michael. "She asked if I was allergic to anything.” ”Yes, I replied." The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, "Gravity." Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that everyday we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." - Matthew 6:34 After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Are you like Michael?

What will your choices today be?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I choose to do the right thing today. The right thing according to your word and its values. I choose joy today. I choose life today. I choose You today. AMEN.