Thursday, February 21, 2008

 

How Will They Know Series

 

Proverbs 3:6 “In all your ways acknowledge God and He will make your path straight.”  

 

The Sum of our Decisions

 

We are the sum of all the decisions we make.  Some of the decisions we make limit us and some of the decisions we make open new vistas of possibilities for us.   Yesterday I was doing what I usually do, looking for a paper that was lost when I discovered an old sermon file.  I came across a sermon I had written when I was 35 years old.  The premise of the sermon was a contrast between my life at 15 and my life at 35.  

 

At fifteen I had written an essay that projected my hopes for my  life.  It now is comic relief.  I wrote that I never wanted to get married and I never wanted to have kids.  I wrote, “No diapers for me!” in my own undeniable handwriting.   I said at 15, I wanted to live in downtown Atlanta in a penthouse where I would never smell grass and hope to never see a farm animal or a tractor ever again.   In my mid-teens I wanted be an attorney for a high-powered firm.  I projected I would wear flashy suits and dress like a movie star every day.  I wanted to travel the world and have a silver sports car. 

 

Twenty years later I wrote that I had graduated from Theology School, not Law School, I  had been married for 8 years, had two children (Caroline was 5 and Christina was 2).  I wrote that a suit at $89 was too expensive and that vacations were spent painting the den.   I remembered in those years that I had two pairs of khaki pants that I alternated everyday and 7 ties, one for every day of the week.   The title of the sermon really tells it all, “Smurfmobiles in the Driveway.”  

 

Now forty years from that first essay I am much more like I was at 35 than 15.  I do have a closet full of khaki pants, blue shirts, and ties that all look alike.   I have been loved by this congregation for that entire period.  Averette has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.  The idea of being a bachelor would be unimaginable.    My children have mostly been a blessing.   I miss tractors and farm animals.   However, I do have a silver sports car.  

 

At 75, I believe I will still be serving God in some way.  I pray that Averette and I will be happier than in any of the preceding years.   I hope my girls are happy and find God’s destiny for them.  

 

I remember in elementary school learning that sums were the total of the numbers you added up.  Lives are the total of the decisions we make.   Far and away the best decision I ever made was to give my life to God. 

 

Prayer:

Dear God, walk with me everyday and guide me to make the right decisions.   Amen.