Choosing to Stay or Go

 

I want to look at the blessings of staying and also of choosing to go. First, I want to look at what is gained from choosing to stay. 

Choosing to stay in a relationship through the hard times takes forgiveness, strength, endurance and courage. Pretty much, it builds character. Choosing love when you could so easily choose anger and bitterness shows willingness to work on the problem as you forgive and learn to accept the other person where they are as you also are growing and changing. 

Choosing to stay in school and work towards a goal brings self-satisfaction along with a degree and usually a good job. It gives training and knowledge. This can also come from an apprenticeship work program. 

Choosing to stay disciplined in a financial budget will bring financial gain for the future as you eliminate debt. With this comes freedom from slavery to bills. It gives you freedom to help and be a blessing to others. 

Choosing to stay in a close walk with the Lord brings peace, comfort and joy in this life. Choosing to take a stand on God's Word may not always be popular in this world but will always please God. Remember, we are as close with God as we choose to be at any given time.

Next, I want to look at what blessings can come from choosing to go. Sometimes, a relationship, job, or situation is completely toxic and we must remove ourselves from the situation. I have long said that life is too short to be miserable. It is also too short to compromise our physical or mental health. 

While change is often scary, it can also be exciting if we look at it like an opportunity to explore. Explore the best of ourselves or for ourselves. Learning what is best for us by making new choices which can include walking away from certain situations, can be liberating and bring blessings in the end. 

Choosing to eliminate harmful foods, habits, or addictions is another form of choosing to go. The blessings that come from this are obvious. Better physical and mental health! 

Your future lies before you like a shining path of snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show! Choose wisely and reap the blessing of each choice of staying or going. 

Being Knit Together in Love

 

The apostle Paul tells the Colossians that he wants their hearts to be comforted, being knit together in love. I want to look at how this happens. 

One of the main things that will knit people together is commonality. Having things in common draws people together. It's the whole point of social media groups. People create groups to share common interests, political views, religious views, or even tragedies. Support groups for common things people have gone through such as addictions or grieving a loss or parenthood of special needs children are all over social media sites. Just this week I joined 3 groups on MeWe for homesteading ideas, home decorating and cooking with cast iron. There are tons of ways to connect with folks of similar backgrounds and interests. Whatever your heart and soul is searching for, you can find a group to help you connect with someone seeking the same. 

Another thing that knits people together is tragedy. Families bond together over the loss of a loved one. Communities do the same thing as well as when a natural disaster hits or some other tragedy. When the shooting at Columbine happened or the Oklahoma City bombing or Hurricane Katrina or 9-11 or many other tragedies, the local communities, states and even the country as a whole mourned together and pitched in to help. For a time anyway, people were knit together in love and concern. 

A third way that knits people together is the bonding together against a common evil. This is what happened during the Revolutionary War. A group of states that, quite frankly, didn't necessarily care for one another individually bonded together to rise up against a tyrant nation. Police shows are common on TV and represent this thought perfectly. The partners on the police forces bond together against the "bad guy" criminals to stop them from further harm and try to bring justice to victims. 

In the case of Paul's letter, he was referring to the commonality of the saving grace and knowledge of Christ. He wanted them to take comfort in the knowledge that they shared the promises of God. Christians today can and are knit together in love because of our shared love of the Lord. Whatever differences we may have in theology, doctrine or ideals, we still share the fact that we have trusted Jesus as Savior and will share eternity with each other and God. 

Today you can probably think of someone with whom you will forever be knit together in love due to one of my reasons mentioned above. Smile when you think of them and maybe even reach out to them and let them know you thought of them.