You didn’t get to choose what country you were born in.
You didn’t get to choose your background.
You didn’t get to choose the family that raised you.
You didn’t even get to choose your name.
You didn’t get to choose how your began your life here on earth.
But today… you can choose how it will end.
You can choose where you will spend your eternity.
You can choose the people you want to spend time with.
You can choose the environment you want to be in.
You can choose what kind of legacy you want to leave.
You can choose what kind of person you want to be.
When I was younger I was very much a bookworm – I would read all kinds of interesting books that would catch my attention. One book series that really caught my eye was a series called “Choose Your Own Adventure”. The books always began with this…
Beware and Warning!
This book is different from other books.
You and YOU ALONE are in charge of what happens in this story.
There are dangers, choices, adventures, and consequences. YOU must use all of your numerous talents and much of your enormous intelligence. The wrong decision could end in disaster – even death. But, don’t despair. At any time, YOU can go back and make another choice, alter the path of your story, and change its result.
Whatever happens, good luck!
Each one of our lives is a story of its own.
A story that may not always be written down with ink on paper, but a story nevertheless.
And our stories are very similar to these “choose your own adventure” books.
We live our lives and we come across many different decisions that we make on a daily basis.
Although many of these decisions may seem insignificant at the moment, every single one of them plays an important role in leading you to where you are in life.
Where you are at the end of your life depends on the choices you made along the way whether it be successful, happy, alone, disappointed, wealthy, indigent…
And what matters even more than how your life here on earth ends is where you will go after your story here is finished.
Because not only does your life and your choices lead you to a certain ending on earth, they also determine where you end up in eternity.
Even if you live an incredible life on earth and you die happy, rich, and successful it doesn’t really matter if it won’t lead you to an eternity spent with your Creator.
It’s really easy to get caught up in the busy-ness of life and forget that even though it’s important to meet our needs here on earth and do what is best for our future – we are destined for something beyond our lives here and our choices in life should reflect that.
We shouldn’t choose to do what only benefits us here on earth – but also what will make a difference for eternity.
If we only live to satisfy our physical desires on earth and not strive to live for God and the eternity that awaits us – at the end it really will all just be a chasing after the wind.
A meaningless pursuit.
A wasteful ambition.
Obviously, you can’t control your future.
You can’t determine where the road will take you next.
You can’t know ahead of time what setbacks you will have.
But honestly what matters most is not what happens to you, but rather what you choose to do with what does.
You may have a painful background and upbringing and you can choose to wallow in self-pity and limitation, or you can move ahead and create a better future for yourself and those that follow you.
You may not be the person you want to be today. You may not be working at your dream job. You may not be surrounded by the greatest of friends. You may not have the best relationship with God, but it’s up to you whether you will do what it takes to change it… or whether you’ll allow it to remain the same.
It’s all up to you.
And every little decision you make will play a role in how your story will end.
If you eat right and exercise regularly today your health will be better tomorrow.
If you go to college and excel in your work your job opportunities will be greater when you graduate tomorrow.
If you spend quality time with your family and friends today, your relationships will be better tomorrow.
If you invest into your future financially today, your retirement days will be better tomorrow.
If you learn to count your blessings today, you will be more content tomorrow.
If you spend time with God in prayer and His Word today, you will draw nearer to Him.
If you serve God with your time, energy, and money today, your reward will be great tomorrow.
If you live a life that honors God today, your story will end better tomorrow.
It’s that simple. And you have sole responsibility of where your tomorrow will lead.
So today, with every step you take, with every decision you make, with everything you choose to put your time and energy into you are deciding how your tomorrow will be.
Your background won’t determine it.
Your upbringing won’t change it.
Your friends and family won’t affect it.
It’s all up to you and what you do today.
My question to you is this: how do you want your story to end? And what choices are you making today to go in that direction?
Whatever you do, don’t waste time on things that won’t be good for you in the long run and instead choose well.
Choose well your thoughts.
Choose well your priorities.
Choose well your actions.
Because you will reap tomorrow what you sow today so sow in such a way that you look forward to what your will reap because of it tomorrow.
Don’t just sow into things that matter only in this world. Sow into what matters to God.
Sow in your relationships.
Sow in the words you speak to others.
Sow in the way you treat the people around you.
Sow in the way you live your life reflecting God’s character.
Sow into eternity.
Be blessed and choose what you do wisely today. -Anna… ♥
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” – Galatians 6:7-8
Lovely blog post. And very apt today. We have so much choice in our lives and with God blessing our efforts, we are sure to reach our dreams.
Very inspirational (: Great Post!
Thanks Angie! Be blessed!
Thank you Holly. I agree with you, as long as we follow God’s leading in all the choices we have to make daily we will definitely fulfill the plan and calling He has for our lives!
Excellent post – we do have a choice.
Yes, we do. (Although it doesn’t seem like it at times). It’s so important to make good choices every day because we will be living in the fruit that those choices bring tomorrow!
Anna, it’s as if you were in our living room last night as we talked about everything you said in this post. My nephew is at a crossroad and these were precisely the things we discussed with him last night. I used a quote by one of my grad school professors “EVERY game in life is won in the 2nd half” meaning everything in your 1st half (you had no choice, control over), but now you’re in the 2nd have and your life will be what you make it (no matter what life dealt you in the 1st half). Anyway — as always, good stuff and SO timely!
Aww… that’s awesome! I must have been there with you in spirit! 🙂 I love that quote that you shared. It has so much truth in it and if people only started looking at life and their choices from that perspective it would really change the way their second half goes. Often times people allow their pasts and limitations to be an excuse for not pursuing those dreams and goals God has placed in their hearts and it’s tragic to see so much potential go to waste because people think they have no control over what happens in their lives.
Ultimately God is in control, but with the choices we make we also play a huge role in which way our paths will go. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Marlene. Hope you had a lovely Labor Day weekend!
Yes I did Anna, thank you! Hoping you had a good one too. You’re so right. I promise my jaw dropped when I opened this to read it. I was like, “no way”. Anyway — you have a way of reaching people “right” at their point of need. I know it’s because of the quality time you spend with God. By the way — a guest post from you would be an honor! i’m sure you’re busy, but if you said yes, I’d give you my email so we can talk about it. thanks in advance!
Marlene
A guest post would be an honor (for me). I have only done a few so I’m not quite sure what is “expected” of me, but you can definitely leave me your email so we can talk about it! 🙂 I love the idea of having guest bloggers on your blog (especially if they like to share about similar topics)!
I got your info Marlene. I’ll email you today 🙂 Thanks!!
I love this post and I, too, grew up reading those special “adventure” books along with my favorite Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys…what an adventure we have as a Christian following His voice to lead us along His path. Doesn’t matter where we came from, but where He is taking us! I’m thankful for this reminder today, Mary
Amen Mary! Life with Christ is surely an adventure every day! I know He’s taken me on roads I never planned on travelling and there are days I only wonder where He will lead me next. It’s such a blessing knowing Him because even when we don’t know where to go we know we have Him right beside us and He’ll get us where we need to be when it’s time. 🙂 Be blessed!
🙂
I can really appreciate this. Thanks Anna!
Thanks Patty. 🙂
I agree and disagree. But loved your post nonetheless. Say you are a young black boy living in the ghetto with an alcoholic mother and a new father every week. They beat you and rape you and your mother does nothing. What choices do you have? You leave and your on the streets alone no money no food. You stay and you survive. Say you are an Indian girl living in a culture where you can’t show your face for fear of death. You want to come to America the home of the free but you can’t because t cost money that you don’t have access to because you can’t work. So what do you do? You survive. Say you’re an American girl living an ordinary life. You go to work each day. Make dinner for your husband and daughter. You want to go to school but you are in such debt and your time is limited. You feel like you can’t move forward. You survive. Sometimes yes we are capable of choosing a new tomorrow. But sometimes our only choice is to survive.
That’s a really good point. Some people’s “first half’s” are much harder than others and in that case sometimes the only choice they have is to choose not what they can do to change their second half (if they are limited) but rather what they can do to change their attitude about the second half. I love this quote from Mathew Hagee’s book “Shaken But Not Shattered” of a man describing his experience about being a holocaust survivor (link to post is below):
““In spite of the freedoms and liberties that I lost as a child, and with everything the horror of the Holocaust took from me, the one thing that was mine, and mine alone, every minute of every hour of every day, was the freedom to choose my attitude. The Nazis could do to me physically whatever they pleased, but they could not tell me how to respond emotionally. And in spite of the nightmare I lived through, I chose to live through it with the attitude of joy”
Sometimes the only choice a person has is how they will choose to face those situations in life that they can’t change. Some people really are just fighting to survive, but in the end the attitude that they choose to do it with is what will make the biggest difference.
Link: http://daughterbydesign.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/making-lemonade/
Exactly the point I was hoping to make 🙂
Ha, I love the ‘choose your adventure’ books… great analogy. Appreciated the warning, lol. Too bad I wasn’t warned before I had to find out that life sucks. Okay, not life… bad people who numerously populate the earth and corrupt it. “Choose well your thoughts”. Yikes… I wish I could do that. 🙁 I mean, I can to an EXTENT, but not much at all when it comes to… you know… my diagnoses.
Yeah… life can definitely have its “downers” but we don’t always need to live as victims to the circumstances that each day throws at us because with Christ we will be overcomers in everything that the enemy throws our way! And choosing your thoughts is certainly not always easy especially when you’re used to a certain type of thinking which is why God reminds us to renew our minds daily in Him (Romans 12:2) so that we’ll focus on the truth rather than the constant things the world and the people in our world tell us that are not aligned with His Word. It’s definitely a daily battle sometimes, but not impossible with Him. if you change your thoughts you can truly change your life. Baby steps… that’s what it’s all about. 🙂
Beautifully written and inspired, thank you!
There’s a great quote by Dr. Paul Homoly, “Make all decisions based on the person you want to become.”
Thanks Amy! That’s a great quote for me to remember next time I need to make an important decision!
Love it! Reminded of Donald Miller a bit. Very cool. 🙂
I preached a sermon recently with a similar idea.
http://jspark3000.tumblr.com/post/55504332548/
I’ve never heard of him but I’ll make sure to check him out. Thanks for sharing the sermon. I can’t wait to listen to it! Be blessed!