Make responsible choices

By: Dawn Dawson Canada East Mission Centre Co-President

I use the principle of making responsible choices quite a bit with the youth. I read a book about making your children feel responsible. When they did something wrong, they were given a choice of consequences, like sitting quietly in the corner to think about what they had done, or going to their room to lay quietly in bed to think about it, but no playing or reading. I secretly wished each time they would choose the room because usually if I left them for 5 minutes, they fell asleep, and everything would be better after a nap. But regardless, it was this or that.

As I have worked with youth, I have continued to use the idea of smart choices. I have a PowerPoint program I have used at the high school over the last couple of years with young people getting ready for post-secondary school about choices. You can choose to do well but make the right choices at the beginning. Choose to have the correct attitude going in. A quote from the movie “Order of the Phoenix” where the character Sirius Black says, “We’ve all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.” If we want to simplify life, it boils down to this quote. What we must understand or take away from this is that what we do does matter. If we treat people and ourselves in a proper loving and caring manner, our souls will be happier. The correct choice is not always the easy choice.

I have used Daniel in my discussions with youth about this. Daniel chooses to pray to God against the law of the day. King Darius knew the law was wrong, but he did not want to fight the officials, so he felt like he had no choice and threw Daniel in the lion's den. That was the easy way, but Daniel chose the hard way. Darius could not sleep until he freed Daniel. He realized he had to make the hard decision of going to get Daniel out. Daniel survived. We must respect ourselves and make the choice to choose what is the right thing to do for all involved, always.
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It is an easy thing to discuss, but the realization of what we are doing is hard. Take the time this week to really think about the various choices you make. In today’s world of climate concerns, it might be the choice to remember your cloth bags when you go shopping, or to choose to walk if you cannot drive. Choose to be a positive influence, not a negative one. Choose to take the time to see someone’s point of view before jumping to conclusions or being judgemental. Choose to love over hate. If we choose with love, our priorities will become clear.