The Power of Choice

This also captured from a Nigerian woman's FB post.

What lies behind you and
what lies before you are tiny
matters compared to what
lies within you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are many circumstances of life over which we have no control. Since we have no control over those things, we have no power of choice on them. For example, you cannot control the length of your life but you can control its width and depth. You cannot control the weather but you can control the atmosphere of your mind.

As we grow up in life, there are many choices we can make. Although we can’t always choose what our circumstances will be, but we can choose what we will do to them. We have no choice over the parents we came through into this world. We have no choice over when or where we were born! We cannot choose how tall, short, fat or slim we will grow but we can decide what we become in future. Choices and decisions go together. People who have choice over their circumstances are those who make the right decisions. Inability to make the right decisions and stand on them remains one of the main causes of failure. One of the factors that will determine the level you go in life is how you make your decisions.

Indecision is a decision. Everybody’s life is driven by a force. While some are driven by their past mistakes and guilt, others are driven by fear. Some even believe that no matter what they do, life will always be unfair to them. They then loose hope in life, and become afraid to do anything or think of any thing worthwhile.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies behind you and what lies before you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you.” Your destiny is how your life makes it. We hear people say, “Your own is on the way.” I know that opportunities never come to those who wait for chance but they are captured by those who dare to ‘attack’ . Not those who are destined for chance make it in life but those who know their choices and follow them.

Many people believe that whatever they are passing through today, they have already been destined for such conditions from birth. Some people give that as an excuse to free themselves from the challenges of life. One thing is certain; the choice and decision you make today fill a gap in one way or the other. Every human being is created for one purpose or the other but our choices play an important role in our future. I believe that the former President of the United States of America understood this when he said, “The history of free men is never written by chance but by choice.”

The human life is guided by this principle or law; if you sow indecision, don’t expect to reap success where or when others are harvesting the fruit of their decisions. If you fail to study your books, forget about passing the exam. If you sow carelessness, you don’t have to expect the harvest of peace. 

If you are not serious about your dreams, your destiny is not properly shaped. Though God destined you to be a leader in a certain field, but your choice can put paid to it. You are what you choose to be in life. From birth, God destined Joseph to fill the gap of leadership among his people but obstacles came his way. His choice saw him through.