A  couple years ago, I needed to put a stake in my yard to hold a Christmas ornament from blowing away. After thinking about it just a little I remembered I had a sprinkler system. I didn’t know where the main pipe feeding that area was located, I only knew my yard was large and this water line was only 1 inch in diameter. So what are the odds I could hit it when I was only driving a 3/4 inch stake in that little spot in that large area. I told myself that it would be pretty much impossible. Yes, you guessed it. I drove it right into the middle of that pipe and never had a clue what I had done. Come spring I found I had an issue. I told myself that there was no way but there was. I guess we can say the wrong choice was made by me.

When it comes to choices we have to make vs. choices we want to make, I find that they can both get us into trouble. When we make a choice based on only our thoughts which is what I did with that nasty stake, we only have ourselves to blame. I don’t think it was the fault of the company that installed the sprinkler system and if I would have called them up and asked what they were thinking when they put that water line right where my stake needed to go, I’m sure they would have told me that they were their first. Your problem – You caused it – What were you thinking!

But what happens when I make a choice based on someone else’s guidance and it proves to be wrong? Many times in today’s world we blame things going wrong on someone else. It’s many times hard for us humans to admit we could be wrong. So we blame the mistake on someone else. Maybe we might take them to court or just make a serious threat. We might stop being friends with them even if we asked them for the advice. Many things can happen when we make choices. We make them everyday of our lives. Getting up in the morning, eating or going to bed is a choice. It maybe started by making a choice that takes little thought like being hungry, tired or rested. However, it is a choice. Maybe we make a choice to do something because it makes us feel good. We really like a special kind of desert. Then 20 years later and 60 pounds over weight we realize maybe we should not have eaten the whole thing! We realty want something that we think we cannot live without, we don’t have the money, so we charge it! Then we can’t sleep because we can’t pay for it. Must have been that sales person’s fault!

Those pesky sales people can be a bit of a pain if you are not aware of the goods they are selling. They are either there to genuinely help or they are there to make a sale. It is the one that is there just to make a sale that we generally need to be aware of. If we choose to wrap our arms around our own ability to listen, rationalize and ultimately determine for ourselves what we want to believe, we can begin to see who we really are. We can buy into things that are good for ourselves.

I believe that God also gave each of us choices to make. He made a choice and gave each of us a brain and a mind to think with and allows each of us to make our own choice about Him. The problem we all need to be aware of is that there are people out there that don’t want us to believe in God. They have their own agenda no matter what it is. The problem that happens if you follow just their advice, you could be making one of those choices that you have to repair later or it is also possible that you won’t be around to repair it and it will be too late. So we need to be careful when we are making choices about something so important and careful about who influences us and also about who we influence. Clearing our mind of all the junk that clouds the issue and making sure we understand the results of our choices and then moving forward with it is up to us. One way or the other – it is our choice!