Choosing Life
by Monte Wilson

A dead thing can go with the stream,
but only a living thing can go against it.
GK Chesterton

Do you want to live life, or just pass through this world?

What Choosing Life is not:

Not the same as running from fears, as quite often the only way to get to “life” is to press through those fears. Jesus had to go through rejection, persecution, suffering, and death, before he experienced the resurrection, yes?

Not the same as “justifying my existence.” God created you: you don’t need any other “justification,” proving you are “worthy” of such a gift. You don’t earn gifts: you receive them, with a heart of gratitude.

Choosing Life is not accomplished by reacting to other people’s choices or paths. Choosing life is not done reactively but pro-actively. If I choose a path only because someone said, “Don’t go that way,” then THAT person made my choice for me: which means that I have yet to Choose Life.

The Way of Life is often blocked by Dead People. Like Jesus said: “Let the dead bury the dead.” Walking corpses constantly try to get you to postpone or to divert your quest. “That way is too painful, too lonely, too costly…No one else is traveling that path … that path is wrong … you have disqualified yourself for Life, Joy, Happiness, Contentment … my path is The Path for you.” This is why following your path is sometimes a lonely journey: your world was peopled with The Dead. However, once they all leave, you will find that Life-Seekers begin to re-people your world.

Choosing Life: You will know it is Your Path, as your spirit, soul and body resonate with a YES … or, sometimes, at least with a yes. Which doesn’t mean that, once you are on your path, you will always feel this way.

Choosing Life is choosing to remain aware and awake. Temptation to leave Your Path comes when sadness, despair or suffering strikes: “Let me go back to sleep!” Stay awake: more life is right around the next bend.

Choosing Life is Choosing Love: love for God, for others, and for self. As you consider the various paths before you, where do you see/hear/feel the most love? Yes, I said, “Feel.” Discovering and Choosing Life is something we do with the whole person, not just our heads.

Choosing Life is not a One Time Deal. All of us stumble and fall. We may find ourselves on a strange path and have to retrace our steps until we find our way again. The key to getting back up and finding our path is asking God’s forgiveness and choosing Life—again and again and again. By the way, refusing or resisting God’s forgiveness at this point leaves you stuck where you were when you fell. You can’t Choose Life if you insist on beating yourself up for your failings. Remember: the Good News is that Jesus took your beatings for you.

Choosing Life is not solely an intellectual exercise. In fact, I suggest that the “intellect” often gets in the way, as we are seeking to reason our way toward “rightness” (Being Right), rather than discovering life through leaps of faith guided by intuitions of the heart.

Or so I believe …