I’m thinking this morning about the choices we make –
-both in public and in private.
I think what we decide in private—when no one is watching—is where the strength comes from to make decisions that can be observed publicly.
For example, what I post on social media—whether it is original or shared content—is based on decisions previously made in private about how I will use social media.
That keeps me from posting in anger or frustration. It guides me to be responsive rather than reactionary. It helps me ignore a lot of the noise and clickbait.
That sounds so easy typing it in this moment sitting in my rocking chair drinking coffee on a Saturday morning.
The truth is that I’ve typed plenty of posts in moments of frustration.
Thankfully, most have never been published.
They’ve been typed and deleted before posting. A few have been quickly deleted momentarily after posting.
That’s all about private prior decisions concerning both what I want to avoid and of what I want to accomplish.
I want to bring encouragement and hope in the midst of discouraging and worrisome times.
I want to build bridges.
I want to demonstrate the way of Jesus as I understand it from the Gospel accounts.
I’m more interested in being a catalyst than an influencer.
The fact that I’m not publicly criticizing something doesn’t mean that I agree with it; it means that I choose my audience and my conversations based on my prior decisions.
My hymn text for today is a song I heard for the first time at a summer student camp over 25 years ago.
It’s about choosing the focus of my worship and my life. The refrain (not pictured) says,
“Lord, I give You my heart, I give You my soul, I live for You alone. Every breath that I take, every moment I’m awake, Lord, have Your way in me.”
Easy to sing at camp. Harder to live.
But it begins with a private decision.
My scripture reading this morning was Habakkuk 3.
Verses 17-18 are a declaration of decision: No matter what happens—even in the worst and most desperate of times—still I will praise You.
This is not a denial of our current realities; it’s a decision to focus our lives beyond our current realities.
It reminds me of one more song.
“Still I will praise You. Still I will praise You. Still my trust in You remains. Still You are sovereign. Still You are faithful. Still I will praise Your name” (Baroni, Smith, West – 2022).
I have decided.
How about you?
Be amazing today, my friend.
