If you had to choose ...

Anyone in my family can tell you, I’m obsessed with the new hit musical Hamilton. There are so many amazing songs in the crafty and creative show, but one line has been constantly replaying in my head lately. The line goes:

“If you had to choose, If you had to choose”

The context of the line is the American people are forced to make a hard decision about who their next president would be (don’t worry this blog isn’t about politics, so it is safe to keep reading). This line got me thinking about how my decisions and the decisions of those around me are drastically different from the decisions I am usually faced with.

A decision I have been thinking about a lot lately is would I rather have electricity or water. There have been massive shortages of both the past couple weeks and we have gone many days without either. So every morning while I still lay in bed I think, which would I rather have? If we have electricity we can cook on the stove, keep cold water and food in the refrigerator, charge our electronic devices, use PowerPoint in the classrooms, and when it gets dark, turn on the lights. However on the other hand, if I choose water, I can brush my teeth without using bottled water, I can take a shower, wash the dishes, and flush the toilet.

I then remind myself that this is not a decision everyone has to make. There are people in this world who would never have to choose between water and electricity, they have plenty of both. There is not a doubt in their mind that when they push the power button, their giant flat screen TV will come to life, or that when they go to take their 30 minute long shower, the water will not run out before they finish rinsing off. I am also reminded that there are people who don’t ever have a decision because neither is available to them. Not far from my home here are people without running water or electricity in their homes, so they don’t have to make that choice.  Utilities are not something that everyone on earth has access to, so I am grateful to be able to be fortunate enough to even think about what I would choose.
 

I think I speak for most of us when I say we’ve all had the conversation that goes something along the lines of … “Where do you want to eat”, “I don’t care, anywhere”. This starts off the seemingly endless discussion of all the options we have available to us. Mexican food, Chinese, burgers, Italian, pizza, wings, subs, salads, or fast food (I am naming all the foods I’m currently missing and craving; sorry for the long list). We are forced to make decisions from the bounty of options at our fingertips. As I think about choices, food is something I automatically think of.

I wish this was a decision that everyone around the world had. Not only do so many people around the world and here in Malawi not have the amount of food options we as Americans have, but some people are faced with the decision of do I eat, or does my child eat. That is not a decision anyone should have to make. When you make the choice to get Chipotle over Chinese tonight (YUM!) give thanks for having that choice, and pray for those having to make more difficult choices about food this day.

We make a countless number of decisions every day. We pick and we choose. The choices we make say a lot about who we are as people, but they also can help be daily reminders of the blessing it is to have the ability to make those decisions because of the opportunities we have. If you had to choose, what would it say about you? I encourage you to be intentional in your choices, and hope you see the blessings in every choice.