choices

I stood on the porch a short time ago and waved goodbye to my family. Dave will meet the school shuttle and drop the kids off before driving over to the church office for a day of studying.

Just as I turned to go back inside, I glanced down at the crack between the house and the porch swing and saw a blip on the lawn, a little out-of-place bump. I couldn't see what it was at first because the grass and everything else is covered by a thin layer of frost. I've always loved the color created by white-over-green. It reminds me of old Coke bottles, or the color of the sea when the ferry is backing up from the dock and the water foams and churns in its wake.

I looked harder, though, and saw what it was: a black knit hat. And for some inexplicable reason, that discovery made me sad. That hat was made to warm a head; instead, it's lying stiff and frozen and useless on the ground.

(At this point, you may be thinking the last of yesterday's Valium has yet to leave my system . . . but bear with me.)

One of my favorite quotes is by Alan Redpath, who said this: "There's some task which the God of the Universe, the great Creator, your Redeemer in Christ Jesus has for you to do -- and which will remain undone and incomplete until by faith and obedience you step into the will of God."

Scripture puts it this way: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
Eph 2:10 (NKJV)

I'm both comforted and challenged to realize that God has created me for a purpose. It's comforting because I understand that I'm perfectly suited, perfectly enabled and equipped, to perform whatever He asks of me. I'm challenged, because I know myself, and I know that I'm my own worst enemy. I'm not always the best steward of my free will. I allow distractions, temptations, and lesser things to pull me from my God-ordained tasks.

I honestly don't know how God's sovereignty and man's free will co-exist. I don't know if God allows me just enough rope that I'm free to wander from His embrace far enough to miss Him, or if He's too much of a Gentleman to override my choices. I only know I don't want to make Him sad. I don't want to be another frozen black hat lying stiff on the ground. I want my life to count.

Today, I'm going to take that verse to heart and live purposefully. I'm going to filter my choices through those divine words, and see what drops away.

Today, I aim to warm His heart.