"I need to make the wise choice."

This is one of the phrases that gets repeated again and again and again to the children at our church. Week in, week out. "I need to make the wise choice."

We talk about what that means; we repeat it out loud; it's written on the walls.

"I need to make the wise choice."

I've heard it said that repetition is the key to long-term retention. Say something over and over and over again until it sinks in, becomes written on your heart, part of your thinking.

"I need to make the wise choice."

Can I just say that the wise choice is sometimes the hard choice? Especially when you have made what wasn't the wise choice and then have to go back and undo the choice and make a new one?

Case in point.

Fridays are my day to write and work on this Bible study I'm writing/going to be teaching starting March 24. Fridays are a day Toben has gifted me, a day I've set aside for this task, a day to listen to God's voice and respond.

And yet I got all mixed up, thinking that Friday was MY day. And so I made plans to have lunch with a friend. It's just lunch, I thought. And it's MY day. But even as I made those plans, I felt God whisper, We had plans first.

And so I've had to cancel.

And this is the SECOND time I've done it. The first time was with a different friend, but good grief!, you'd think I'd have learned the first time!

"I need to make the wise choice."

And I need to make it the first time! It's not that lunch was a bad choice, but it wasn't the wisest choice. It wasn't being true to something I'd already committed to God to do.

I'm feeling so grateful this morning for an understanding friend, for an opportunity to redo a choice, for God's voice reminding me that, yep, you guessed it--I need to make the wise choice.

How about you? Any choice you need to redo to make the wise choice? Facing a decision for the first time and have the opportunity to make the wise choice even if it's hard?

Here's the thing. The wise choice won't always be the hard choice. It won't necessarily be the easy choice either. It's not really about hard or easy or convenient or quick or simple or whatever. 

The WISE choice. That's the descriptor that matters. In every choice we make.

"I need to make the wise choice." Today. In all I choose. And so do you. 

::cheering you on::

Comments

[Susan Smith]

I'm not sure there are enough allowable character spaces in the comment box to list all of my unwise/can I have a redo please/choices.

And...isn't THIS funny...at the top of my journal page FROM THIS MORNING...is a list of a couple of things that I laid out to God and said, "can I please have a do-over?"

So. How's THAT for reinforcement of His word to me this morning?

Love ya.

S

[Tara]

I think I'm going to write that out and post it in our school room! We are always talking about the decisions we make sometimes have lasting effects. But saying it like this is so much simpler and to the point! Thanks for sharing.

[Caroline Perez]

Yes! Praying for you as you write tomorrow! May God speak more than you can write!

[rhonda]

Can I say AMEN! Great post and great encouragement.

[Kristy]

Lately I feel so stretched and pulled - so many things that NEED to be done - that I feel like doing none of them. I feel like vegging - in order to put off or escape from the weight of it all - being a mother and wife, housework, church duties, being in college - tons of studying and homework. Ahhh. It stresses me writing it all. And so, these days I feel like I do not make the wise choice too often. I want some "easy" moments - so I choose nothing. I don't like that - the way I am coping. I will try to make the wise choice...

[Puva]

On a completely random note - our birthdays are coming up! Yay March people!

[Mandy]

I say the same things to my little ones regularly, and it often speaks to me as well. Great honest post and encouragement. Our God is loving and forgiving, and thankfully he is willing to guide us, even when we aren't so quick to choose the wise thing.

[Cheap jordan Shoes]

definitely good stuff, thank you! I think the most convicting thing for me was listening to Alistair Begg's series on The Ten Commandments. wow.