MILESTONE CHOICES

Introspection 

Two Roads Diverging

 The Road Not Taken,   By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

I think the reason this famous poem resonates with millions of people is because every choice we make in life shapes the path we walk and eventually where we finally end up.  Cornell University researchers have estimated (It’s beyond me how they did this or who can dispute it) that the average adult makes about 35,000 conscious decisions every waking day!  And decisions have consequences.  It’s been noted that if an executive makes optimum decisions at least 50% of the time, he’s doing a commendable job.

 It would be futile to even attempt to document all of these choices, but I believe it would be interesting to recall those milestone choices through some introspection such as:

·        Choosing the activities and the children you played with for hours on end.

·         Choosing the profession or college major you found interesting.

·         Choosing your major employers and all the work friends you met.

·         Choosing the adult activities you like to enjoy participating in and watching.

·         Choosing a life partner as a soulmate.

·         Choosing to raise a child.

·         Choosing to commit to an extended mortgage and buy a home together.

·         Choosing church families, organizations and lifelong friends along the way.

·         Choosing books to read, television to watch, politics to support, etc.

·         Choosing ideals to support and make the world a better place.

How we remember our choices shapes us today.  Frost remembers taking the road less traveled with a sigh.  When we chose a particular path, we don’t have any certainty that taking the alternative may have been the better choice.  Ultimately, all of the 35,000 choices we make daily, both mundane and monumental, shape our character based on how we respond.  The end game is to live life so that we can simply look back and smile.  

And that will make all the difference!

GOD'S RELATIONSHIP TO HUMAN SUFFERING

Hard Times, Chicago, IL

This anonymous quote that rationalizes God’s relationship to human suffering was shared by the minister who officiated at our wedding. He found it to be comforting after his young wife’s car was rear ended into a speeding train and was killed, leaving him to raise their two young children:

“Suffering is not God's desire for us, but it occurs in the process of life. Suffering is not given to teach us something, but through it we may learn. Suffering is not given to punish us, but sometimes it is the consequence of our sin or poor judgment. Suffering does not occur because our faith is weak, but through it our faith may be strengthened. God does not depend on human suffering to achieve his purposes, but sometimes through suffering his purposes are achieved. Suffering can either destroy us, or it can add meaning to our life”.

Suffering may not be God’s ultimate desire for the human race, but it is certainly part of an environment where both nature and mankind have been corrupted and one that allows free will choices of good or evil. We do live in a broken world with all sorts of suffering and pain visited upon everyone at some time. And much human suffering is a consequence of man’s inhumanity to man or is brought upon ourselves. Seeing that suffering in little children is especially troublesome. We all share the common destiny of mortal death which can be accompanied by suffering, but we have no understanding of what more serious issues could have been in someone’s path if life were extended. We can generally handle news of a faraway event that rains suffering on a foreign land, but when it strikes close to home it becomes much more personal.

Our response to suffering is critical. For many, a steadfast resolve, deepening faith and inner courage are revealed. Our time of suffering is temporary when viewed in the grand scheme of eternity. In the midst of suffering, this quote could bring some clarity, however. And we have been assured that God will be with us always. No matter what challenges we encounter in life, we will never have to face them alone. God can also help us bring good out of any bad situation.

It’s important that we don’t default to simple platitudes in a sincere attempt to comfort those who are suffering such as, “Everything happens for a reason; It’s part of God’s plan; It must be the will of God; God needed another angel in Heaven”, etc. All these well-meaning phrases we’ve all heard in a time of need wrongly implicates God as the source of suffering which can turn people away from their Heavenly Father at precisely the time they need him the most. Folks can often simply benefit from a good friend’s presence in such times. Silence can be a much better healer than trite phrases which imply that a friend’s suffering has been orchestrated by their loving Creator. And healing does always occur, just not always in this mortal life. We’ll ultimately understand when we individually journey to the other side.

WHITE KNUCKLES

In the Pulpit, Emporia, KS

I recently returned to my hometown church in central Kansas where I was first exposed to the love of God and the sacrifice of His son. I was there on the occasion of my niece’s wedding and I was honored to read scripture for the ceremony. The old limestone Lutheran church was the scene of many Sunday School lessons, good times at Vacation Bible School where we learned the old biblical stories of great adventures and acts of faith (and literally drank the Kool-Aid and ate homemade sugar cookies), memorized and recited good news bible passages about the birth of a savior, fidgeted and squirmed in pews with our parents during the adult services under open windows in the summer, spent vacation days apart from friends who were at baseball games and fishing holes to study for confirmation, and witnessed baptisms, weddings and funerals.

I've carried small white knuckle scars with me my entire life as a result of having my legs mysteriously slip out from under me as my cousin and I were running through the church on some long forgotten childhood week day. The memory is still quite vivid sixty years later, as I was caught completely off guard. I knew we shouldn’t be running through the church and certainly the sanctuary. When I looked down at my knuckles, they were red with fresh blood, as if I had just been whacked with a ruler by an unseen teacher for my rude behavior. It occurred to me that perhaps I actually had been disciplined right there on the spot—and I became more respectful and never ran in church again. Isn’t it funny how those little life lessons stick with us?

Given my rambunctious and adventurous life at the time, it was no surprise to see the response of my classmates as we were finishing our confirmation classes one hot summer morning. Our senior pastor had asked for a show of hands if any of us thought that we might consider doing God’s work when we got older. Since everyone was raising their hands, I sort of moved my hand up so that I wasn’t the odd man out. That solicited a very predictable response from my male peers around the table; “Are you kidding”? “Do you seriously think you might be in a pulpit someday”??? Well, it took about fifty five years to return to that particular pulpit downstairs from our classroom, but I have the proof! And I’ve actually delivered a message from the pulpit in the recent past as I turned the printed pages with arthritic fingers tinged with faint white scars. Many times God uses the least likely candidates to manifest his word in this life so that the divine source is readily apparent. And I still think somebody tripped me in that stairwell, even though I was the only mortal in there at the time!