We human beings love to have the freedom of choice ... I want to choose where I live, what I do, where I go. I want to decide how long I want my hair to grow, what color shirt or purse I want to buy, what I'm going to eat for dinner tonight.
One of the concerns of those growing older and requiring the assistance of another is that they lose their freedom of choice. My Dad hung onto his license and his car as long as he could and he never did voluntarily give them up. Even though he no longer drove, it was the idea that the choice to do so was still there. We want the ability to go where we want to go when we want to go and with whom we want to go.
Throughout our lives we make many important and some not so important choices. My choice of a first car was life changing but not life altering; my choice to have children was life altering. The choice of the car changed my life for a finite period of time -- until the car wore out or until I decided I wanted a different one. From the day my boys were born life was never the same again and never will be. Becoming a parent is a radically life altering experience.
We make physically altering life choices and we make spiritually altering life choices.
All this leads up to what I've been pondering this week -- and that is -- God loves me. I don't deserve it; I didn't earn it. It just is -- because that's who He is. It's a free unconditional gift. We don't get many of those in life so they are special and meant to be deeply valued.
For the most part, others like me or love me because of how I treat them, what I do or can do for them, how I please them in some way or how they feel when they are around me. Generally speaking, if someone does not treat us well, respect us, or do something nice for us, we don't particularly like them ... they don't hold an interest for us. If someone treats us nicely and we feel good in their presence we want to spend more time with them.
But God just loves me ... and waits to see if I will respond to that love.
God's love is unconditional; I cannot lose it -- He will not withhold it -- ever! But I can refuse it; I can refuse to respond to it and thereby cut myself off from His love. It is my choice and it is your choice. Definitely food for thought ...
Perfect! What more could I say? Thanks for the reminder.
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