September 10, 2005


Choose Life

A scripture from Deut. 30:19 ff has been stuck in my spirit and heart 
for the last several weeks and I have really not known how to develop it 
for this Parson’s Wife, but convinced I needed to.  And then a tragic 
event stunned us on Thursday morning when we got a call that a dear 
friend, 5 years younger than Den, suddenly and with no warning suffered a 
fatal heart attack and in the twinkling of an eye went home to be with 
the Lord.  

I spoke with his precious wife several hours later and you 
know what she told me through her tears?  “Tom’s having the most glorious 
day of his life today!”  Do you know what she did?  She answered God’s 
call from that Deuteronomy passage.  “Today I have given you the choice 
between life and death, between blessings and curses.  I call on heaven 
and earth to witness the choice you make.  Oh, that you would choose 
life ….”  In the depth of her grief, Mary Jane chose to believe in the 
realty of eternal life for Tom and rejoiced that he was experiencing that 
at that very moment.  If she could choose to see life rather than death 
10 hours after giving her husband CPR until the paramedics came and 
then watch them remove his body to a funeral home – if she could choose an 
attitude, a mindset of life rather than death, can not we do likewise 
in our own life crises?

As always, we come back to our choices.  And the call of God to choose 
life is for every one of us, everyday, and sometimes even every minute 
of our day.  And like in so many other areas of choosing, if I don’t 
actively choose the right, I will by default slid or back into the wrong.  
Mary Jane chose actively to see her dear husband alive in the presence 
of the Lord rather than dead and lifeless at a funeral home somewhere.  
Does that choice mean she is not grieving, or that she won’t be for 
time to come?  Of course not!  But she does not grieve as one without 
hope, but with the assurance that they will meet again in those heavenly 
places.

The rest of us may not be laying our spouses to rest tonight, but we 
too are challenged by God’s call to today, choose life!  What place in 
your personal, family, peer relationships do you need to actively choose 
life over death in those relationships, circumstances or heartaches? 

 From a personal note, I learned a long time ago that if I don’t 
consciously choose life each and every morning before I get out of bed, M.S. 
will breathe a small death sentence into my mind or spirit before I’m 
even out of bed. The depression it can cause, the anxiety it can create, 
the weariness of soul it can cause are all waiting at dawn’s early light 
each day. But my choice of life each morning allows the Holy Spirit to 
empower me to walk in faith and victory that day.  I’ve learned that 
and consistently live there.  But, what about other areas of my life?  
When our home based business of D&R Computer Services slows down and I 
worry about our finances – I’ve not chosen life in that area that day, 
and consequently the death of worry takes root and flourishes.  Or when I 
fail to see Salt Creek Bible Church grow, if I don’t chose life, the 
death of discouragement can overwhelm.  And on and on I can go. 

See what God is calling us to here?  He is pleading with us to choose 
His life that we might experience all the blessings of God almighty.  
My failure to choose life will leave me with death and the curses that 
follow.  So take heed, God calls on heaven and earth to witness the 
choices we make.


Until next time … love and prayers, 

RuthAnn Gleason, the Parson's Wife
ragleason@sbcglobal.net