8:07 a.m. I made it to work. I always seem to pick the rainiest days to ride to work. A Nun's Life Ministry HQ is not far from the convent -- I can weave in and out of neighborhoods and navigate only a couple busy roads. As I did this morning, I grumble a lot as I get myself and my bike ready for the morning commute. I'm not quite awake yet -- will I be ready for the ride? Wouldn't it be easier to slip into the car and drive? After all I have a backpack full of stuff and I wouldn't have to worry about cars driving along side me, bugs veering into me, tired muscles, and ... as usual, rain.
I don't know what it is that finally makes me get out the door and get on the bike. It's like the split second of "Am I going to do this or not?" It's a veritable Deuteronomic moment. Choose life or choose death.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, 20 by loving God, your God, by obeying God’s voice and by clinging to God. For that will mean life for you, a long life in the land which God swore to give to your descendants Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, and Leah and Rachel and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 31:19-20)
Okay well maybe not exactly life or death, BUT it is a small moment in time, a split second it seems where I am asked to consider what will be life-giving for me, for the mission I am about, for others? Can I in this one, seemingly insignificant moment, make a choice to choose life?
For each of us, that "small moment" can come at any time -- taking time to appreciate the beauty of the trees or other drivers while running errands, a choice to not react poorly to a friend's bad mood, the gift of a few minutes of our time in the midst of a busy day to give to someone in need. Maybe it's even the choice to dig out your favorite T-shirt and put it on because it holds good memories for you! It need not be angels-blaring-trumpets-esque, but that's the beauty -- God and the choice for life can be in any moment.
In this ordinary day, in this small moment, how do you choose life?
