I’ve been learning a lot about choices this month.
I can choose to be frustrated or I can learn a lesson from the situation, be happy, and move forward.
I can choose to let plans overwhelm me or I can choose to trust that they will work out as God wants them to.
I can choose to eat pop-tarts for breakfast or I can choose to trade them for a banana (yes, we’ve been trading food like we’re at lunch in elementary school this month).
I can choose to have a terrible day or I can decide that it’s going to be a good day regardless of the circumstances.
I can choose to despise the rain or I can choose to see it as a blessing.
I can choose to not talk to people because I don’t speak their language or I can choose to try, even if it means I make a fool of myself.
I can choose to remain the same or I can choose to grow and strive to be the best I can be.
I can choose to ignore God’s voice or I can choose to listen and obey.
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The largest way I’ve learned this lesson over the past month, though, has been with the children surrounding us up in the mountains. No matter where we went on the mountain, children would be there… and they wouldn’t simply just be there with us physically, but emotionally as well – always asking for our time and attention. Sometimes they would follow us on our adventures, grabbing our hands and asking us a thousand questions. Sometimes they would walk up to us and simply stare at us. What seemed like all the time they would shout our names repeatedly. Sometimes they would watch us as we washed our laundry down at the natural spring and make fun of the fact that we were washing our underwear (uh, surprise, we have those and need to wash those too!). & Sometimes they would grab our hands and force us to play duck, duck, goose with them – where we were ALWAYS the goose.
The moment I had my major revelation about choice, though, was back at Pastor Luis’s house. I was sitting down outside on the porch for the first time in what seemed like forever to read and have some time to myself. I went about ten minutes before the Pastor’s girls began calling my name from outside the smokehouse, “Emilia! Emiliaaa!” I initially tried ignoring their calls so I could continue to read, but they then came up to me, grabbed my hand, and continued to say my name.
It was at this moment that I realized I had a choice. To continue to ignore these precious girls so I could have time to myself or to put myself aside and love them. I then had the realization that one day I will be a mother and will have children who will constantly be vying for my attention. The thought of being a parent who ignores her children scared me to death and brought me to the decision of, “Well, I better not start the ignoring them now, then!” So, I got up, put my stuff away, and gave the girls the attention they were asking for. We talked, laughed, chased, and baked cookies. It was so much more rewarding than reading all alone would have been (though, that can be extremely good for the soul at times as well).
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Life is a compilation of choices… and life is all about perspective. I hope that I daily choose to make healthy choices that benefit not only my life but the lives of those around me. I hope that you do too.
