Food for Thought: Choices, Choices

Never criticize your spouses’ inability to make good choices. Remember, that you are one of them––Author unknown

Choosing between two or more alternatives can be difficult for some people. It may be that they have been hurt by making poor choices in the past and do not want to make the same mistakes again. On the other hand, it might be that they really do not know which alternative would be the best. Sometimes not choosing is the choice.

I remember a time when my husband and I were hosting a Russian Scientist and his wife who were visiting the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where my husband worked. The wife did not speak any English, but I invited her to accompany me to a very large Boston supermarket to get some food for our dinner. We were not able to converse while we were at the store, but I noticed that she seemed quite overwhelmed by the enormous amount and variety of food available.

When we got back to the apartment, she spoke in rapid excitement to her husband. I could tell that she was describing her experience at the store. I asked him what she was saying. He said that she had been extremely impressed with two huge tables full of all kinds and colors of cheese and was even more astounded that I did not buy any. He said that about once a month, or even less often, their very small shop got one kind of white cheese and that she always bought it because it was such a rare treat. She could not believe that I had passed up an opportunity to buy any kind of cheese I could possibly have wanted. Of course, I knew that I could always make that choice the next time I went to the store.

God has asked us to choose to live according to His will. Some people think that choice will always be there once they get tired of living the life they have chosen for themselves. But God warns us that we do have to make a choice and not choosing or delaying too long is dangerous.

“For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 However, life and not death can be the outcome of the story for each of us, if we will choose to trust in and follow Christ who died on the cross to save us.