choose life

Choose life that you might live...

The band Big Tent Revival had a song called Choose Life.  I have always loved that song and the message in it.  We have a choice set before us.  In Deuteronomy 30:19  it says:
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

How do I choose life?  How do I choose death?  I think it is sometimes a subconscious choice based in habits, but really it is a conscious choice to choose how to live, how to act, how to think and in what we allow. 
I was sitting in the the staff room eating lunch today, and the subject of current movies and favorite movies came up.  One person told us her favorite movie, and then said "Oh those sex scenes are so steamy, that's why I love it!"  This then brought up the upcoming "50 Shades of Grey" and who had read the book. Several expressed the shock of the book and others expressed that they had read worse and didn't see the big deal.

I have recently read a book about this very topic and what we allow to infiltrate our marriage and thoughts.  I have really made a serious conscious effort to protect my heart, my mind and my life from things that could infiltrate, affect and detract from my relationship with my husband.  I told my husband that I only want to think of him. I don't want to have images in my mind of actors or other people that would cause my thoughts to wander when I am with my husband.  I want to be fully his. I want him to know that he is my one and only, and the only one I think about. Probably not a popular idea with many people.
I realized today as I was listening to these people that this is indeed a rare stance.
I did tell them I do not plan to see either of the movies they had discussed and would not read the book either.

I think I am going to take this decision a little further into a spiritual realm. I know God has set before me a choice, not just in marriage, but in life. Every area of  my life should be just as precious when it comes to being fully belonging to God.  I want every part of my being to be 'all in' with my relationship with God.  How many things in life infiltrate, affect and detract from my relationship with God?

Have you taken time to think about those things that take away from the presence of God in your life?  Are there things that distract you from hearing his voice?  Are there things that take away from being ever present to prayer and obedience?  He did say "Pray without ceasing."  (1 Thessalonians 5:17) I know we can't spent every moment on our knees, but we can be in the right mindset, frame of mind, or attitude to be ever ready to talk to God, to go to him in prayer and hear his voice.   I think that third part is really important.   I want to be ever conscious of his voice when he speaks.  I do not want to miss an opportunity to hear what he has to say. 
I think we have a choice to make and I want to choose life. I want to choose Him. 

Choose life....

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