Choices

CHOICES confront us at every turn, every day. Choices range from the routine to the vastly important, from whether to carry an umbrella to the choice of career. What and how we choose to think is vital. We sometimes choose, for example, to believe that we have a busy, pressured schedule ahead of us and that we will be weary by nightfall. During the course of the day, we choose to be forgiving and kind, or critical and unloving. We may find ourselves, almost involuntarily, choosing to think along the same lines, or to follow the same pattern of thought, as a family member or friend. We are constantly choosing what to think, and these choices obviously have a direct bearing on our employment, relationships, and even our health. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, brings out the extreme importance of making right choices when she says, ``Your decisions will master you, whichever direction they take.'' 1 What guidelines do we find in the Bible to help us in this all-important area? Joshua, Moses' successor, gave us an important directive. He was speaking to the children of Israel, but his words are timely today: ``Choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served . . . or the gods of the Amorites . . . : but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.'' 2 The most important choice for us to make each day, each hour, is to serve God! Choosing to serve God involves a prayerful desire and effort to know Him better and to express His qualities in every way possible. Looking to God to direct the course of our day, and therefore expecting it to be orderly and productive, is much wiser than planning on a pressured, tiring day. Deciding to see our intelligence as coming from God, rather than depending upon a limited sense of intelligence as originating in ourselves, is a wise, efficient decision. Choosing to express the kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and tenderness derived from God, instead of reacting negatively, tremendously affects our relationships. Choosing to express fearlessness and courage through reliance on God strengthens us and helps prevent weariness and disease. The first chapter of Genesis records that God created everything, including man, and saw that it was very good. The following chapter records the supposed origin of mortals. Eve, deceived by the serpent, chose to be disobedient to God, and all kinds of trouble followed. But the Adam and Eve story doesn't tell us about the man of God's creating, who is obedient to his Maker and is governed wisely by Him. Christ Jesus taught us how to awake to our real selfhood, our sonship with God. He taught us to accept willingly God as our Father, and to think and act as His offspring. And, as Jesus proved through his mighty healing works, when we choose to worship the one God and accept our true selfhood, we can be healed of disease as well as of sin. Choosing to serve God establishes a wise standpoint for all our decisions, including those relating to health. Determining to worship Him alone, we won't choose to believe that climate, nerves, heredity, or any other circumstance has control over us. And this will help preserve our health. This statement of Mrs. Eddy's, though it relates to physical well-being, is concise, direct, and well worth heeding as we make choices in every area of our experience: ``Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously.'' 3 1 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 392. 2 Joshua 24:15. 3 Science and Health, p. 392.