Choices

A quote that occasionally makes the rounds on Facebook says: “Everything in your life is a reflection of a choice you have made.” I’m not sure who authored those words, but I’ve never fully embraced them. It sounds good on paper, but nothing is ever that simple. Yes, our choices shape our lives, but the choices of others can shape and/or reshape our lives for generations to come, and not always for the good. A person drives drunk and kills your mother. Your employer lets you go after 25 years of employment. A crazy neighbor shoots and kills your only child. Your son commits suicide. Your parents' divorce. Those are not choices you made, but you’re left to deal with the consequences, nonetheless. And that, my friend—being left to deal with the consequences of another person’s actions—is what makes life so hard. You feel victimized, emotionally abused and terribly, terribly wronged. In the purest sense of the word, it isn’t fair. So, what do you do about it?

Well, that’s where YOUR choices come into play. You can choose to be bitter and angry for the rest of your life and live in a prison of your own making, or you can choose to forgive the one who initiated the storm and allow the struggle to strengthen you for the journey ahead.

Of course, you should seek justice under the law when warranted, but seeking revenge will not bring you peace. When Jesus suffered at the hands of others, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God “who always judges fairly,” (1 Peter 2:23). So, what is my point here? My point is this: Yes, our lives are a reflection of choices we make, but our lives are also a reflection of how we responded to choices forced upon us by the actions of others. I pray my life is a reflection of mercy, forgiveness and grace. Happy Tuesday evening, y’all. God is good, and I am grateful.