Choosing Life, and Hope

Today's Fast Pray Give calendar on Busted Halo asks you to fast from unnecessary video clip watching on the internet.

Must remember to check this calendar first thing in the morning! Without realizing it, I broke today's fast by 11 a.m. This is a good one, though. I have friends who fast from the internet altogether during Lent; I considered it, but it's just not realistic given my job. A focused fast like this is doable, and it helps me to be more conscious of the time I spend (read: waste) online.
 

From today's readings:

I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you ...

It never seems that simple, a choice between the blessing and the curse. In daily life, choices aren't so cut and dried. Hearing God's voice, and living by God's word, can be tricky when you think of all of the conflicting messages we get on that score.

From the Psalm:

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

For some reason, the "hope" aspect of this resonates today. The readings give us guidelines, words to live by, choices to make. But when I'm not clear about what God wants for me in a given moment, or what's the right choice to make, the idea of "hoping" reminds me that living by God's word requires a leap, and to take a chance. I may not get it right, but I can keep trying.

So to make the right choice, to "choose life," I go back to the three things identified for us in Corinthians:

"These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

Love is the guide; it helps us take the leap.