Your Power of Choice.
The greatest power in the universe is the power of choice. Exercising my power of choice in a manner that is honoring to my life is one of the ways I honor God and others, but it is not always easy. I have daily choices that I make about how I will live-- I can choose to pray or not to pray; I can choose to be thankful or not be thankful. I have choice. It is when I forget that I have choices that I lose hope, get frustrated, and get caught in a rut. Likewise, when I lose hope, become frustrated, and get in a rut I often forget that I have choices. Losing my power to choose makes me a slave to the world and to my environment. I think one of our calls as human beings is to help others own their power of choice and to create an environment where people have the freedom to choose.
Choice is a result of freedom and having options and I am a very fortunate that I am aware of my power to choose. I once heard it said that happiness is not by chance, but by choice. Freedom is my God-given right and like Epictetus said, "No person is free who is not master of oneself... is freedom anything else than the power of living as we choose?" In order to remain in freedom I have to exercise my power of choice.
Jesus claimed that he came to give us life and set us free. The power of choice is the power of life and freedom. Jean Nidetch, the founder of Weight Watchers, said, "It's choice - not chance - that determines your destiny." I must choose wisely, with the right motives, and it requires my being extremely honest with myself in order to make healthy choices. It seems we are always standing on the cusp of life with the choice we make. And if we are in a situation we don’t like or isn’t life-producing we can accept conditions as they are, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
One of the ways I make choices is to listen deeply to the still small Voice within; to sit before the flame that burns within my heart and to notice where it gives me light and warmth. In attempting to make choices I attempt to notice what gives me energy, what gives me life as well as what takes my energy and what takes my life. For me it is not so much seeking to make the right choice as it is to make the healthy choice. I equate God with health. Healthy choice is life giving; unhealthy choice robs life. Jesus often went to the mountain to be alone, to pray and to sit with God to hear the voice of God that is in all of us. The question is what does God want? Sometimes the answer is what do I want at the deepest place in my innermost being? Dare I choose life?
"Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love GOD, your God, listening obediently to God, firmly embracing God." DT 30:19
3 Comments:
Thanks for this, Rick. How on earth do you get started?
(That can be a rhetorical question if you'd like, haha.)
A related theme that I have been focusing on lately (pun intended), is a query a spritual Friend often asks me:
"Where are you placing your precious attention?"
This is about our very own choice -though sometimes we forget that we actually have this conscious choice. For example, a Friend in my Meeting was talking about reading a book about the history of the Bush family. SHe wasn't enjoying it at all - and she was filled with contempt for the people she was reading about. I simply asked her if this reading was helpful to her in any way. I wondered, (rhetorically) if it was helping her feel closer to God, more at peace, more loving... She said she never even thought about it. She was just trying to finish the book so she could return it. She thanked me and said she thought she would chuck it and begin a different book that was more in line with her values.
I share with you the way you make impostant choices, and that is to listen deeply to the still small Voice within. This has never steered me in the wrong direction. I, too, pay attention to the flame that burns within my heart and to notice where it gives me light and warmth. There is such positive energy in this light.
Jesus shows us by example how to sit alone with God to hear the voice of God that is in all of us. When in doubt about a choice, thinking about what Jesus might have done is generally a clear quide.
I don't know how I stumbled into your blog but I am glad I did. These thoughts are challenging and very stimulating thanks.
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