Choices: A Sunday Sermon

I’ve been thinking about choices for the last two days. 

I was playing a card game called “Whot” with my hubby and I won three or four games in a row. 

He said “You’re good.” I took a breath and smiled. Then thought, am I good? Or am I just lucky?  

The next game, I played a card and instantly regretted it. “I should have played a different card,” I thought. He beat me that game. And then he ended up winning overall after we counted our points. 

It answered my question. I wasn’t necessarily ‘good’ but I also wasn’t lucky. It was all about the choices I was making during the game.We were given cards and how we played them determined who won. 

If you play without thinking, you may win; but you may lose. It’s more of a risk.When you’re strategic, and you think about the cards, the order of the cards and the way they relate, you have a better chance at winning. 

I think life is like that. Throughout my life, I’ve had several years of just going with the flow. I took the cards I was given and I just went with it. I didn’t think much about my choices. I didn’t really even know to think about my choices. I just went along with what I was given. 

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized the reality and benefit of making strategic choices towards what you want, not just what you’re given. There is a time in life to work with what you have, but there is also most definitely a time to make choices based on what you want. 

If you’re playing the game just to play it, and you don’t intend or want to win; you’ll most likely lose — which isn’t a bad thing if you could care less. 

But if you want to win, and you want to feel good about it, you make strategic choices to work towards it. 

In life, I think we should make deliberate, intentional choices. In every moment, we should choose the thing that will get us closer to our goals — whatever that is. It’s not always easy, but if winning is the end goal, it’s necessary.