The right choice

As parents we dream that as our children grow older and mature, that their capacity to make good choices, good decisions will also grow. It happens sooner than you expect, school days end and they must choose uni, an apprenticeship or traineeship, travel or work, or perhaps parent-supported unemployment. They will soon learn that to complete a uni course or an apprenticeship takes commitment. It means putting in time and energy in learning and developing skills with the end of achieving a challenging, interesting and fulfilling career.
Thus making good decisions, life-changing decisions, means having the commitment to seeing those decisions to the end. Sometimes, like David, our future is mapped out for us (he was anointed by Samuel), but no matter what others want from us, we must freely choose (remember Edward, Duke of Windsor). Or perhaps like Mary we might say, ‘Yes, Lord, I come to do your will,’ and give ourselves over to love. And we might well have own difficulties when we make choices, but they may fade into insignificance in comparison to great matters of state.
So yes, things will get in the road of the decisions we commit ourselves to: we get too busy; we have so many other things to do; place to go; people to see; messages to leave; it’s too cold; too hot; sick children; late meetings. They all prevent us from doing what we know we ought. It means not being able to maintain my diet, my exercise regime, keeping in contact with my parents, my spouse, my children, my friends, reading the novels next to my bed, finish repairing the bits and pieces around the house, bidding for things on eBay. Our life-making decisions become routine and tedious and we lose the edge of what we are truly called to be. The Gospel is at the edge, it doesn’t get any more radical or fundamental.
When we do follow through, it is easy to attribute such tenacity to our personal strength and character. It may be so.
The Gospel for the 4th Sunday of Lent comes from John (9:1-41). In this retelling, a man who has been born blind has his eyes made open by Jesus and he can see. A group of Pharisees cannot believe that Jesus has made this happen, for to them Jesus was a sinner, and such good could not possibly come from a sinner. The now-sighted man defends Jesus and acknowledges him as the Son of Man and worships him. This is a man of determination and courage.
Acknowledging the source of our healing, of our strength can be difficult. If we are so loved by our God, is it not unreasonable to assert that it is he who drawing us and inviting us into good relationship, good health and full life?
Inviting God into your lives will make a difference. Worshipping him will make a difference. It is a choice, and it is a life-changing choice: so come, worship the Lord.