Reflection
I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life then,
so that you and your descendants may live.
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
Life is ever changing, ever moving, ever evolving into new expressions. Life is not meant to be rigid or stagnant. To be in a state of permanent changelessness and the ceasing of vital mental activity is death.I choose life when I see the possibility that things may be viewed with a new perspective. I choose life when I am open to being touched by God as I grapple with new understandings. I choose life when I allow myself to evolve and change. I choose life when I am open to the strange.I choose death when I am stuck in my own certitude and rigidity makes me blind and self-centered. I choose death when I stand in judgement of others and criticize their ways instead of being open to the gift they offer. I choose death when I am closed to newness and cling to my limited certitudes. Within myself is the power to grow into a new vision with a new spirit. I can choose blessing and so live.
Prayer
God, gift me with wisdom so that I may always choose the path that leads to life for others and for myself.
Action
Reflect on ideas and changes that you have difficulty accepting. Why? Are they potentially life-giving or death dealing? What are you afraid to lose?
Suggested Reading;
“ See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster.
If you obey the commandments of your God and follow God’s ways,
Your God will bless you…But if your hearts strays, if you let yourself be drawn
Into worshipping other gods, you will certainly perish…I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life then, so that you and your descendants
may live.
Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.
Karen Kaiser Clark
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill
Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Viktor E. Frankl
All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.
Abraham Lincoln
Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom.
Buddha
Most people can look back over the years and identify a time and place at which their lives changed significantly. Whether by accident or design, these are the moments when, because of a readiness within us and a collaboration with events occurring around us, we are forced to seriously reappraise ourselves and the conditions under which we live and to make certain choices that will affect the rest of our lives.
Frederick F. Flack
He not busy being born is busy dying.
Bob Dylan