ohbloodyhell8

Can anyone guess what these three things have in common? Moses, Wham! and Shawshank as in Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. I’ll give you a moment to try to figure it out. While you are thinking, let me tell about a funny thing that happened in church Sunday morning.

Throughout the sermon I had the song “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” running through my head. Awfully difficult to keep a straight face with that tune streaming through the mind’s mp3 player. The sermon was about how to craft a meaningful and purposeful life. This is something I struggle with daily. I listen each day for the path I’m supposed to be on and overall I think I follow His guidance pretty well. The major mistakes in my life were always chosen by me and usually very clearly opposite the answer I received after thoughtful prayer. But oh how humans love to exercise free will. Although in many ways free will is how organized religion manages not to be cult-like so I suppose it is a good thing.

But I digress. A meaningful and purposeful life. What makes a life fulfill those two qualities? Is it career choice? Is it 15 minutes of fame? Is it healing others? Is it family? For me, that’s the answer. My family fills me with meaning and purpose each day. Even on the days when my young sons seem unable to hear me or understand the plain language I use when asking them to complete a chore, my family is my meaning…my purpose. My husband is my best friend and everything else I hoped for in a husband. Being a wife and mother are extraordinary experiences. For me, nothing else beats that. I have learned truly about patience, compassion and unconditional love.

So what does all of this have to do with Moses, Wham! and Shawshank? They all tell us to choose life.  In Deuteronomy 30: 15-20, Moses says “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Choose life….” Thousands of years later the words “Choose Life” are printed on fashionable (at the time) t-shirts in the “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” video. Shortly thereafter, Red tells us in Shawshank to “get busy living or get busy dying.” He chooses to get busy living. I choose to live life. The friendly message in today’s sermon reminded me that I can choose to live a whiny life or make the most out of everyday. I can choose to live compassionately. I can choose to live each day as a post-epiphany Scrooge. I choose life, not bah-humbug.