Choices 

   When I wake up in the morning there are several choices that I will need to make throughout the day.  Some are easy, some are of no great importance.  Others will affect how I live my life, whether I am full of hope or despairing.

   I can choose to grab my phone or turn on the television and check out the news.  The problem with this choice is that the news is biased no matter who is reporting and is never good.  If it’s not bad news it usually doesn’t see the light of day.  The news is one of those things that will lead to despair, stealing the peace I seek.

   Instead, I can open the blinds and greet the new day.  Taking a long walk at dawn is a wonderful start to the day.  I can pray, I can think of God and all the many blessings He has given me.  As the sun rises I can enjoy the beauty of the new day, the brilliant colors cast by the sun through the early mist of a foggy day.  I can hear the birds waking up and greeting the day and see the squirrels beginning their daily search for breakfast or just chasing each other about as if playing.

   As the day progresses there will be many other choices to make.  I can choose to stay at home, doing really nothing with my day.  I can waste the day sitting in front of a television that brings every evil known to man right into my home.  I can spend the day doing nothing of value, just moving from sunrise to sunset in a stupor.

   Or I can live my day noticing the beauty and majesty of God’s creation.   I can go to Mass and worship my God and receive the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.  While there I can visit with friends who share my faith, friends who give me strength in living my faith.  I can be thankful for the good things He has given me rather than complain about the bad things of the world.

   The choices are quite clear.  I can live for God or for self.  Living for self brings pride, sinfulness, and despair.  Living for God brings joy, happiness, and eternal life.  The choice is simple, choose God.