Choices

On my last post I ranted about my late night rendezvous with my crazy thoughts!!  Yet again Noah (my 18month old) has taught me some valuable lessons in the wee hours of the morning!!  Choices!!  

Let me break it down for you... My wife and I decided to go visit some friends in Dallas Friday afternoon.  That trip is about 2 hours and we left late afternoon.  1st choice!  We then had a wonderful time catching up and enjoying the fellowship of our dear friends.  During this time my son, who knows what he wants, decided chocolate would be a good idea because it was in plain view! Me being the good dad that I am decided, 'Heck one or two won't hurt".  2nd choice!  One or two became about ten at about 8pm (past his bed time).  No big deal, he's so cute I'll give him whatever he wants!!  3rd choice!!  We finished our time with our friends and started the drive back to Tyler around 10:30!  4th choice!!  He slept like a champ all the way home.  We got home (thanks to the expert driving of my beautiful wife; I was asleep!) and put the kids to bed at around 12:30am!!  Then the night began!!!  1:45 my son woke up and was wired. (my wife later told me that dark chocolate has caffeine, good to know!!)  We tried the old milk trick and that lasted about 20 mins then he was up again.  Then we tried rocking, lasted 20 mins!  This poor kid probably had the equivalent of 15 monster drinks and we were trying to make him go to sleep.  He was not having it!!  There were explicative and foul language through out the night thrown at my boy and my wife.  Not my finest hour.  Finally at 6 am my wife brings him down to our bed and the kid passed out finally!!  The whole time, poor Noah was so wired he was shaking!  He slept the whole next day and so did we.

What do choices have to do with this silly event int he joys of parenting?  I didn't know either until I processed it with my bride the next day!  There were many events/choices leading up to the night from hades that could have been avoided!  (It seems I write a lot about choices! ) We could have postponed the trip, went earlier in the day.  I could have not given chocolate!  We could have stayed the night...The list goes on and on!  The point is not the choice I didn't make but taking ownership for the choices I did make.  I couldn't blame my son for the way the night panned out.  It was all our fault!!  

I think a lot of people ( I'm people) have a hard time taking owner ship of the choices we make.  We also have a hard time recognizing the 50 choices before the final choice that gets us in trouble.  Like I said there were a lot of choices that got us to the point where we had a bad night.  As in relationships there are a lot of bad choices that get us to a point of resentment and bitterness.  There are even choices that can help make a better result and we still don't choose that choice.  

The point of this article is starting to recognize the choices as just that, a choice.  There are things we think before we act that can save a lot of misery.  Once we make the choice we are the only persons responsible for that choice.  It is a tough pill to swallow because I often see people who want to blame someone else!  (Read Gensis about the fall of man).  Like Adam, we even try to blame God.  "The woman you gave me" ( I use that line a lot!).  Ultimately to recognize something gives us the freedom and choice to leave it.  To see we have a lot of outs before we make a death blowing or sleep depraving choice!!  

Once I see the choice and the consequences of that choice, the best thing is to own it.  It is a humbling thing to apologize to your children as a result of your choice, but it is something that is required for good relationship.  It is even more humbling to apologize to a hurt spouse.  Either way Christ life compels me to ownership and true repentance is something truly out of this world.  

What choices have you made that have hurt those you loved?  What ways have you blamed or skirted responsibility?  Today's the day to be the owner of you and your choices!  What God reveals, He heals.