Wise Choices

           

     Choices. Everyday,every hour, every minute we are faced with choices. What to wear what to eat, which bill to pay, what shoe to buy, etc. A lot of these choices really will not cause any sizable ripple in your life. You probably won't look back on your life and say, "Wow, if only I had wore the red heels instead of the black ones I would be so better off right now." Those types of choices thankfully are easy and carefree choices. If only life were so easy. 


   Then there are choices that change your life, change your direction, change your outcome. Important decisions like where to live, what type of job/career you choose, who you date, marry or have kids with.  Intricate things like whose advise you listen to, what type of people you hang around, whether or not to do something you know is wrong. These choices change your life. They color your world, in extreme cases if you make the wrong choice you could end up somewhere a lot worse then in the Between. So how do you choose? How do you pick when there is so much at stake?

   Wisdom. There is a difference between a good choice and a wise one. After three years of looking for work, I am offered a job. Now I have to make a choice. It would be a good choice to take the job, find a sitter, and work. It is good to make money. It is good to have a job. This job would be a good choice. Then the variables come in, I have to work Sundays, so I won't be able to go to church, I\ have to work some nights, so my child would be at the sitter's late into the night, my schedule will vary week to week, so she may have to quit soccer. Is it still a good choice? Enter more variables, I am not making salary, it is a minimum wage job, no benefits, varying hours, time away from my home, my child, and my church. Is it still a good choice?

      Wisdom comes from God, its listening to the Holy Spirit, and allowing Him to guide you. The truth of any situation is already in you, you just have to be still and tap into it. For my situation Wisdom tells me that my child's well being should be my priority. Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Wisdom says that I should not give up going to church because I have to go to work. Wisdom made me stop and add up the cost, not the financial one, God has provided for me faithfully during this time and I have never lacked for anything, but the intangible one. Is it wise to put your child in someone else's  care, is it wise to miss her soccer games and practices, is it wise to spend more on child care then what you make? Wisdom looks into the future, it looks at the quality of the decision, it takes into account the effect your choice has on the ones you love, and who are dependent on you. When you view a choice through the lens of Wisdom you see that a good choice is not necessarily the right choice for you. 


     Solomon was the wisest person in the world. There has been none that equal him. Yet with all his wisdom he often made poor choices. He chose women that worshiped other gods. At the time He thought it was a good choice, He was a king, the easiest way to form alliances with other kingdoms is to marry into them. It may have been a good choice politically but as far as a wise choice, not so much. He allowed his wives' beliefs to sway his heart,  he allowed his choice to change his life. In the end He lost favor with God. His kingdom, that he worked so hard to make great was destroyed. His choices, although good, were not wise. I may not be a King, but my family, my life, is my kingdom. The choices I make affect my subjects, the values and ideals that i cultivate in my life and in my child's life will leave ripples that will outlive me and my choices. The same goes for you monster. When it is time to make a choice, you don't just want to make a good choice, you want to make a Wise one. 

Choose Wisely.