I Can Choose

Yesterday I discovered that Facebook comments can be deleted. This was life changing. I choose to delete comments someone had made and not engage them. It was awesome. I have choices. I don’t have to deal with every irritant out there. I don’t have to ruin my day because someone has issues. I don’t have to be controlled by others. I don’t have to be controlled by circumstances. I have choices.

I realize that this is all very obvious. It is, however, one of the key truths of life that I often forget. I have written about this before: http://www.nicksigur.com/choices/, more than once, http://www.nicksigur.com/choices-2/.  Here I go again.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

I love those verses. I love the possibilities within them. Every day, in fact every moment, is a new chance, a new possibility. I can choose to grab on or let it slip by.  I don’t have to be governed by circumstances, history or habit. I can choose different paths.

This isn’t easy for me. I have discovered I have an addictive behavior. If I don’t do something I usually do, I become uncomfortable. I haven’t written a blog since Wednesday, when I was just chillin’.  I have been writing for so long if I skip, something just isn’t right. It doesn’t take me long to become addicted. I have been swimming for a month. I missed yesterday and my swim place is closed on Sunday. No swimming for two whole days.  I’m uncomfortable.

The secret is to know those habits and addictions which take me to good places and to recognize the ones that don’t. For now, writing and swimming are good things. I will continue to choose them. Other stuff, some habits of many years, not so much.

Happiness, joy, peace aren’t places we are taken to by circumstances. They are choices. So are misery, disappointment, sadness, and despair.  When’s the last time you read something from Habakkuk?

17Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 19The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places. Habakkuk 3

God is good. I can choose to remember that or not. I can choose to rejoice in the newness of each day or wallow in the weight of many yesterdays. This day, I will choose the Lord and his hope, and possibility and joy, for the rest I will just hit “delete.”