I set a new milestone yesterday. For the past 11 or 12 years I've been in pursuit of becoming ordained as a minister in my denomination. One of the steps towards ordination is what our denomination calls an Ecclesiastical Council. It's a meeting of local churches on our island who are introduced to my theology, how I've come to believe the things I do, and decide whether or not I would be a fair representative of the denomination as a whole.
Along the way I've had to make many choices, most of which set personal and family time against providing for my family while still pursuing my education. In each decision along the way I had to decide whether my going to school and getting my M. Div. was worth spending less time with my wife. Every time that decision had to be made I would include my wife in the conversation, and each time she would say the same thing: "God has called you to do something, go do it."
Along the way there were times when I wanted to give up or slow down a lot. At each one of those times someone came into my life to remind me of the reasons I was walking the path I was on. Each time those people came into my life I had a deeper understanding that the choice to keep going was something I am truly called to.
In this morning's passage, Moses is telling those who have followed him all those years through the desert to make a similar choice. He tells them that one path will bring them the life that was promised to them, while the other choice will send them down a path of sure destruction. Moses pleads with the people to make the right choice, and choose life.
How many times in your journey are you asked to make the same choices? There are decisions along our way that will change our life in ways unforeseen. Deep down we know that one decision will make our lives better in the long run, while the other won't. Those are the decisions which are never easy; the life-changing ones. How we come to these decisions are done in different ways - we talk to loved ones, we seek guidance from professionals such as pastors or therapists, we pray to whatever higher-being we believe in, we find a quiet corner and think for hours.
No one way is the right way. Neither is the choice we make always the one we want. A lot of times we make decisions because of those around us and how it impacts them. Either way, and for whatever reason, the only thing being asked of you is to make a choice that pursues life; a decision that will in some way further the love of God.
Life-changing decisions aren't easy to make. I can attest to that first-hand. If you stay true to the one thing that really matters, the furthering of unconditional love, then the decision you make will be the right one.
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