Life is made up of many choices. The choices we make today decide where we will be in the future. If we just depend on our decisions, we may commit mistakes in choosing but if we seek the guidance of God we can never go wrong.

In the Bible also we read about many crucial decisions which changed the course of the people's lives. Some chose the right things and inherited blessings and some chose wrongly and landed in trouble.

We read in Jeremiah 21:8 the warning of God 'I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death." Our happiness and health depends on the choices we make everyday. If we fear God and obey His commandments we can claim the blessings listed in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. In order to inherit the blessings we must walk in the way specified by God. "Ask where the good way is and walk in it and you will find rest in your lives." Deut 6:16.

Ruth made a wise decision to reject her gods and follow her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, which means House of Bread. Symbolically it is a travel from spiritually dry existence to a higher level of spiritual experience. It is a shift from starvation to fulfillment. When Ruth made the right choice she was blessed to become the great grandmother of King David and her name found a place in the genealogy of Jesus. We inherit blessings and find a meaning and a purpose for our life when we make the right choice. Everything moved smoothly for her because of her right choice.

We have to make a right choice even in responding to situations in life. Hannah found herself in a situation where she had to endure the taunting words of Peninnah. She deliberately chose her reaction and response to the unpleasant situation. She was not unhappy after she poured her heart out in prayer at the temple. She chose to remain happy and undisturbed after she left the temple. God blessed her and she became the happy mother of the great prophet Samuel.

The Prodigal son chose to return to his father. The devil often tells us that we do not have what we should have. He puts greed and dissatisfaction within us so that we will boldly cross over boundaries. He said that to Eve. He said that to the son and made him seek new adventures in a foreign land. But very soon the son chose to return. Therefore he entered the place of joy which the father prepared for him. But even there, one other person chose to stand out and rejected the banquet of joy prepared by the father. His brother who could not participate in the joy, chose to remain outside. He lived close to his father, but his heart was distanced from his father. One made a choice to go closer to his father but the other one decided to be away from the happiness of good relationship.

Mary chose what was better and what would not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)

What is our choice - is it to go closer to God or is it to drift away from God?