Choice

God is the giver of all good gifts, a truth we cannot repeat enough. Often, however, we don't see some of the things that come our way as gifts; it takes time and reflection to see them that way. One of these most precious gift is our free will. God leaves the choice up to us. We've seen in our own lives and in the history of the world, how this gift can be a blessing as well as a curse. Each moment, it seems, we are confronted with a choice: How will we use this hour, this minute? How will we treat those who come into our lives? How will we respond when asked to do something we had not planned? All across the moral plain, the range of choices is endless and and ever-present.
We are encouraged by the familiar verse from Deuternonomy: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then." (Dt 30:19). And in Sirach: "When God, in the beginning created man,/ he made him subject to his own free choice./ If you choose you can keep the commandmens;/ it is loyalty to do his will./ There are set before you fire and water; to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand./ Before man are life and death,/ whichever he chooses shall be given him." (Sirach 15: 14-17). Let us today give glory to God by pausing to thank him for this gift and ask for his guidance through the Holy Spirit to use it wisely.
Bro. Rene