It's All About Choices...

True words, right?! Isn't life really all about the choices we make? Those of us that have lived a few years realize that the weight of the choices we make really does help to determine what happens to us - both good and bad. Spiritually speaking, those who believe in God realize that we were created with free will and that ability to decide right from wrong, etc, helps determine how spiritually healthy and whole we are. Same is true for our physical (and to an extent mental) health - choices we make work with our basic genetic make-up to help determine the amount of dis-ease we suffer. Yet we find ourselves in a time where people seem to expect that they can make whatever choices they want (whatever seems "right" for them) and that they will have a "get out of jail free" card in the form of medical technology or medication(s) that will allow them to go on their merry way without a heavy consequence. In many ways, that perception is truth. We have a great deal of wonderful technology that's been created to help us live longer and better - same is true (if not more true) with medications. Being a pharmacist, I know that the discovery of new chemicals over the last 25 years has been nothing less than amazing in many ways. There are very few major disorders that have not had at least one breakthrough drug over that time period, and for the main diseases of humanity, there have been numerous revolutionary compounds developed. However, these breakthroughs seem to have fostered a belief model that there is a "pill for every ill" and that science will triumph over poor decision making. Not true! A simple check of the facts show obesity at unsustainable levels, asthma and other respiratory diseases on the rise, diabetes at unprecedented levels, and on, and on, and on. Science seems to have given us a new crutch that allows us to not take the correct amount of responsibility for our choices. Because people with health insurance only pay a fraction of the cost of medications and physician/hospital care, some feel empowered to engage in risky behaviors "knowing" that they can be rescued by the healthcare system. Many have begun to realize (finally) that this type of behavior feedback loop is too expensive to maintain. They've also realized that they don't want to do the really painful work of changing the system to allow for good behaviors to be rewarded and bad behaviors to have natural consequences. Same is true spiritually as well...we can't simply ignore our spiritual lives and expect that all will work out well. Choices we make determine how much "hell on earth" we suffer - and might possibly determine heaven or hell beyond this life. I suspect that a God that gives us free will while we're living allows us the final choice of what we choose for the hereafter - it simply makes sense to me. So this week, what choices are you going to make for your physical and spiritual health, wellness and wholeness? Are you going to choose a faith community to attend - or are you going to become active in the one you're already attending? Are you going to start that walking program, weight loss, giving up of drugs or alcohol (or at least cutting down), go see your physician (or choose one to go see), etc? The choice is yours, but it really does affect all of the rest of us - so choose wisely. If you don't know how to choose, we're here to help at Possibilities Journey, Inc (www.possjrny.org). Peace for the journey, Dan