Choices

By Pastor Paul Gauche

Today’s Word: ‘Choices’ as in… when faced with change, we always have choices.

We can Pause. Pausing provides time for emotions to subside and prevents us from making rash decisions. When faced with change, it’s good to pause and breathe the oxygen of clarity.

We can Pivot. Often misunderstood as going in a new direction, to pivot (rotating on an axis) means changing perspective; to look at changes from a different angle. To pivot allows us to look at change in ways we have not before.

We can Pull the Plug. Sometimes we have to acknowledge that not everything that seems like an end is an end, not everything that comes to an end should be restarted, and not everything that moves along should continue. Sometimes it’s necessary to cut the power, end it, stop it, and just pull the plug.

We can “Proceed On!” In August 1803, Meriwether Lewis and his friend, William Clark, set out to find a trade route to the West Coast. On August 12^th, 1803, Lewis reached the hills where the northwest passage was supposed to be. However, instead of the route to the Pacific, they came face to face with the Rocky Mountains.

In my imagination, they paused, cussed a blue streak (which, you have to admit, would have been quite a moment). They let their emotions subside, which prepared them to take the next step: a pivot. They looked at that situation from several different perspectives. They came to grips with the reality that not everything that seems like an end is an end, not every change should lead to retreat, and every transition should bring deeper wisdom. That allowed them to take the next step. William Clark famously proclaimed, “we proceeded on…” And they did, all the way to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

In Genesis 12:1-4, God tells Abram to go. It’s a fabulous story of adventure. And Abram had some choices to make. In the end, “…Abram went.”

Are you facing changes? You’ve got choices: pause, pivot, perhaps pull the plug, or you can proceed on. The choice is yours.

#100days50words

Paul Gauche is the Pastor of Life Transitions at Prince of Peace. His posts are part of his #100days50words project, where he blogs about a different word each week. You can follow his project on Instagram (@pgauche) or on his blog, Thriving Rhythms.