Choices

Have you ever decided to paint a room, knew what color you wanted, went to the store to get your paint, then stood before the vast selection of shades in your chosen color and been completely at a loss as to which to select? Frustrating, right? You went into the store thinking you knew exactly what you wanted and came out with a variety of color samples to try on your walls before committing to a decision. One moment you were confident and certain and the next, you were confused and unable to complete your task. Alternatively, maybe you simply wanted to save time and get it done, so you grabbed a color you thought would be right, then got it on your walls and decided you couldn’t stand the choice you made.

How many times do we face that same uncertainty or even the repercussions of impulsive decisions made in our own lives? We head in a direction that seems certain only to find that making our decisions isn’t as easy as we’d thought it would be and we’re left frustrated by not being able to move forward as planned. We may then act on impulse and make a choice that ends up not being what we’d really wanted.  Sometimes, there are simply too many options. Any one of them would be good choices, but we’re left wondering which one is BEST?

Unlike the animals, we were created with a free will – the ability to choose. While there’s great freedom in that, tremendous responsibility comes along with that freedom. Our choices often affect those around us. This knowledge can be a catalyst for positive action or cause paralysis.

Recently, I’ve become very aware of my choices, especially in the area of how I’m feeling at a particular moment and how I’m responding to others. I’ve had opportunities to recognize that I could either be angry, frustrated or discouraged or I could choose joy instead. While this isn’t revelatory, it’s been freeing to remember that I really do have the power to choose and to set the course of the rest of my day based on that choice.

Whether I’ve been “set off” by my son’s bad mood, a decision made at my other son’s school, or poor communication between myself and another, I get to choose how I’ll respond and how I’ll let my response shape the next hours. Sometimes I’m better at making good choices than others. The great thing? If I don’t like the “color” I’ve chosen, I can choose a different color and repaint the walls, much as I had to do this week in the form of an apology to my son when I didn’t react well to his grumpiness. Those are the moments that become object lessons for us both as I model asking for forgiveness, he extends it and we move on choosing joy and transforming our days.

Sometimes we’re faced with much larger life decisions. Should we move? Should we change jobs? Which college is best for our child to attend? Should we take a particular risk and step off a ledge without knowing if there’s a net below? In those moments, we can sense the paralysis caused by the fear of making the wrong decision, especially if there’s more than one good option for us to consider.

Years ago, we heard a message that was life changing for us. In it, the pastor talked about this very issue of having more than one good choice set before us when making a major decision. We create our lists of pros and cons and all the while we’re trying to think ahead as we wonder what would happen if we make one decision over the other. How will that affect the rest of our lives? This pastor said we become so focused on discovering which one is the BEST decision when God is offering us the opportunity to choose between more than one great option. He’s allowing us to exercise our free will and choose, knowing that either one will have His blessing on it. That was incredibly freeing to us because we no longer focused on “what if we make a mistake,” but instead focused on “which would we like to do?” That opened up an entirely new world to us – one in which we partnered with God to determine His options, then enjoyed His delight in us choosing which of these great options we’d like to do, trusting in Him that the outcome would be good because His blessing was on it.

We don’t always get to repaint right away when we make a poor color choice. Sometimes, we have to live with our choices and suffer the consequences of being surrounded by a color we don’t like very much. Those are the times when we have an opportunity to learn how to make better choices next time. We learn  how to spend the time and pay the cost of trying some samples out on the walls before making a final decision, rather than acting impulsively in order be done with the task and move on to the next thing.

We also learn how to listen to the ideas offered by our Master Designer who often presents us with more than one design option knowing we’ll love whichever we choose.  

So, which will you choose? Will it be a shade of blue, yellow, grey, teal, green or red? Whichever it is, listen to the voice of your Designer, try out your samples to see which you like best and make your decision.