Making Choices
Key Ideas
Our desire is for a comfortable, trouble free life but this does not help us to develop spiritually. We have the freedom to choose to live only for ourselves of for others (God’s way).
| live for others (when we are open to receiving love in our lives then it overflows to others) | live for others (when we are open to receiving love in our lives then it overflows to others) |
Choosing God’s way requires effort
“It is in the process of meeting and solving life’s problems (often painful) that life has its meaning.”
Scott Peck – The Road Less Travelled
Exercise 1 – How in control of your life are you?
Indicate in the appropriate column how much responsibility you feel you take for this area of your life. N.B. If any of these statements do not apply to you, please ignore them.
| little | some | considerable | |
| My health | |||
| My financial situation | |||
| My children’s behaviour | |||
| The amount of free time I have | |||
| Using my talents | |||
| My tone of voice | |||
| My reaction to being stuck in a traffic jam | |||
| My spiritual life |
Are you happy with how much control you feel you have over these different areas?
If not, what decisions do you need to take to ensure you obtain a greater degree of control?
Every day requires us to make choices and decisions, many of them unknown to those around us. Take Sue for example. Her neighbour’s husband had just died and Sue knew that the right thing was to go round and offer her sympathy and support. Although this thought kept coming into her head, because she knew it would be a difficult and emotional visit, she kept finding good reasons why she was too busy to call round. After three days of this internal battle, Sue finally took control and went and called on her neighbour. Her neighbour was so grateful for the visit and Sue felt at peace inside because she knew she had chosen the right thing to do – God’s way.
Exercise 2 – Difficult choices
Note below a time when you have put off doing something involving someone else because you knew it would be difficult, painful or embarrassing.
Task for the coming week
Identify two areas of your life (one practical responsibility and one to do with relationships) which you know cause you difficulty and involve negative attitudes. Consider how you might make a conscious decision to change to a more positive attitude and possibly take some action to change the situation.
Make a note of the two areas you wish to work on during the week:
1 Practical responsibility
During this week I intend to …
2 Relationship
During this week I intend to …
You may find it helpful to say one or both of the following affirmations to yourself at the start of your day:
AFFIRMATION – I choose to take control of my life by making the right daily choices.I choose to receive God’s love so that I can give love to others and experience the joy of life.