Every December holiday, when I was a kid, my folks would bundle us into the car and make the trip upcountry as it was customary back then. I recall every evening when grandma would have us sit round her three legged stool and narrate to us different stories. The one that hangs to memory the most is one of how the monkey is a staple diet in the asian, far east regions of our globe. To trap it, the villagers would create a sizable hole in a coconut fruit and stuff rice inside. The hole is made just small and wide to accommodate the monkey’s paw. Now, the trick is, that once the monkey has reached inside the fruit and grabbed a handful of rice, it cannot lose the coconut unless it lets go of the rice inside. To the folly of the animal, it makes endless gongs as it tries to make up a tree with its paw still inside the fruit and these sounds are the cue for the villagers. Believe it or not, the villagers will grab it, as casually as a walk in the park, since the monkey will make empty noises, fidgeting around the tree while it has a choice of letting go and fleeing the imminent danger. Grandma would let us run out of our laughter and gaze intently into our watery eyes and tell us the lesson within; always know you have a choice. And the matter of choice has stuck, if not haunted me since. Choice, as free will, is at the disposal of the every human being. It is something God gives us freely.
God will motivate us, encourage us, move the heavens and the mountains for us, rebuke us, send messages through diligent messengers just to get us to make only and just only one thing; make a choice. A choice to choose life, a choice to be happy, a choice to begin to love, to be faithful, to think positively, to live healthy, to change attitudes, to be different; to change for the better. He constantly calls us to make more than a choice but a daily choice. The interesting thing about all this is that it is never that easy. It breaks a sweat but the fruits are guaranteed. Pain is always part of the process. You see, It costs us something to get something. Mediocrity has never been bestowed with recognition and as the Swahili saying advises “ mtaka cha mvunguni sharti ainame”.
The conscious and deliberate effort depends on our ability to make a choice. The choice that we make is influenced by a variety of factors which may include our genetic predisposition, the family influence which I call the social conditioning, the famous peer pressure among others. All these shape our way of thinking trickling down to our ingrained habits which forms our actions and ultimately our character. The good thing I have learnt is that nothing is ever etched on stone that we shall always be and remain as we are. Like the light to the day, life is guaranteed to change. For the mighty and for the lowly. For all. When this happens, our response to it will impact us either positively or negatively depending on the choices we make. Every day, every hour, every minute. Constantly.
In the book, Conversations with God, author Neale Donald Walsch, seems to be at odds as to why he has never gotten it right every time he wishes to come to terms on how to get his life moving without much stagnation. As the dialogue goes ”God”, interestingly, keeps it simple with the truth:”Life is an ongoing process of creation. You are creating your reality every single minute. Remember that every decision you make should be the choice you choose to make tomorrow and that is the secret of all masters. They keep choosing the same thing over and over again until their will is made manifest in their reality”. I like that. That if I choose to be physically fit, I should stick to the fitness plan every time and the constancy of it should see me reach my desired goal. This school of thought gives me the responsibility to be in charge of my own life choices and decisions and to cease blaming others or circumstances for the woe in my life. Every situation becomes what I decide it to be. The idea that I am what I think of myself as is thought provoking.
It is Our Lord Jesus Christ who said that “As a man thinketh so is He” and now I see. I choose what I will think about, what to say, whom to relate to, what to read, what to watch, etc as all this constitute to who I am. I now understand that I am inherently equipped with everything I need to make that choice that will make me be me. A choice to believe in a God to whom nothing is impossible. A choice to trust in Him and in my ability. A choice to make the first step in faith and see what happens. A choice to see myself in a new light; that I am a special person with boundless limits to explore. A being wonderfully and fearfully made. All in all, it all begins with a choice. What’s yours?
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