My vacation long weekend quick trip included many choices: discussions of which rental car, which pool, which beach, which restaurant, which bulk candy to scoop, which skeeball machine to play and which toy prize (I got a donut with sprinkles keychain)… ALL GOOD choices to choose from. Our trip to the Atlantic Ocean beach (so beautiful) found us with so many seashells to choose from – collecting all shapes from spirals to oyster shells to cement-like Coquina made from fossils even, broken shells formed into sedimentary rocks, brought in by the waves. We took some, but never could you deplete all the good choices – it is sort of, well totally, unbelievable how many good choices there are. What if we looked upon our life choices that way? Building upon God choices that He brings in like a wave. Pick up on some – and leave some for others.

My friend, local to that beach, discussed her own new life choices, like where to move. My other friend from our earlier days of vacation time had also been contemplating life change: which career path to take now as all kids are of school age… SO many good choices – maybe hard decisions, maybe easy ones – but always many MORE good choices than bad…

Perhaps these life choices for all of us are so numerous that almost like the seashells, there could be no wrong choices or at least time to study the opportunities. Perhaps bad choices could be tossed back to the sea. Granted for both shells, and small and large life choices, some decisions are heavier to carry or harder to carry out, some are temporary like that rental car, or short-lived like that candy, or made into a stepping stone for job choices, like Coquina shell rock, using the past to build the future.

In all, we must learn to trust the Lord to lead our decisions and forgive our mistakes. We need to build upon God choices.  

A friend recently described the benefits of the Holy Spirit going THRU US rather than just to us – and this is as how you channel the whole ocean through your hands, by leaving them open and available to move in God’s Work. Maybe that’s why we have SO many choices because the Holy Spirit wants so many to be OK. We don’t collect the whole ocean but let it flow thru our lives. We use that power of the Holy Spirit to move well. Earthly decisions are TEMPORARY, going out with the next tide, but Heavenly choices? They flow us forward to the Lord. Let us follow God’s Heart as best we can.

Don’t worry about tomorrow, God will give fresh God choices then. Live in today’s wave…

Amen

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Psalm 93
The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength; indeed, the world is established, firm and secure. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. The seas have lifted up, Lord, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea — the Lord on high is mighty. Your statutes, Lord, stand firm; holiness adorns your house for endless days.

Psalm 91
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”