Choose Life

As we begin our Lenten journey, the readings offer us a choice: You have set before you life and death – Choose Life! And Jesus comes along in the Gospel to remind us that choosing Life may actually require us to forfeit life. As I settle into prayer with these words, the short phrase Choose Life echoes in my heart.

Choosing life today might call me to slow down, when I want to rush, or to rush, when I would rather linger. Choosing life may invite me to be kinder and gentler when I feel my emotions rising more brusquely. Choosing life may mean standing fast when I might shrink back and take a comfortable road. It may mean standing up for myself or for others or for justice, in the face of challenges. Where will I find the courage to choose life, in whatever my day presents? I will find it in these very words – Choose Life - the Word of God that carries within it the power to renew.

As I sit in prayer, Choosing Life seems to urge me to open my whole self to the loving embrace of Jesus and to rest in his gentle arms enfolding me in peace. I let God's love flood the whole of my being and recreate me in the Divine image, in Love. With every breath I surrender to God's life as it flows through me, renewing, healing, loving. Yes. Yes to God. Yes to Love. Yes to Life.

--Amy