November 14, 2013 - "I Choose LIfe!"

Good morning, we are rounding out this week quickly and can you believe the count down to Thanksgiving is ON. We celebrate 2 weeks from today. Publix has their Butterball turkeys on sale starting today through Thanksgiving. YUM.....my favorite. I am planning and sculpting the menu carefully. You? Here's what we are thinking (all sugar and starch free): turkey, no carb stuffing, squash casserole, green beans, sweet potato casserole, jicama au gratin, mac and cheese with quinoa noodles, mashed potatoes (for those eating potatoes, but not me), sugar free cream cheese pumpkin muffins, sugar free pumpkin gooey cake, and sugar free berry crumble. OOPs - I almost forgot the cranberry sauce I make with whole berries, xylitol and a splash of lemon extract. Calories? Yes, but no sugar or starch (except the potatoes) to fight against. I have to plan early to grab the fresh herbs, jicama, and other natural ingredients that my Publix might not carry. There are SOOOOO many choices and eating healthy for me and my family means I have to plan well. Not only do I plan - but I work diligently to make certain the foods are flavor enhanced. NO CARDBOARD at the Hill house for Thanksgiving. :) Speaking of choices, let's talk through Deuteronomy 30: 11-16; 19-20 this morning. The Choice of Life or Death 11 “This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand, and it is not beyond your reach.12 It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it and obey?’13 It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, ‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’14 No, the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. 15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.16 For I command you this day to love theLord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lordyour God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. 19 “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!20 You can make this choice by loving theLord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life." For those who have traveled with me for a minute, you know I am big on choosing and choosing well. EVERY person God created has the ability to choose. That was in His master plan. He created us, but wants each of us to choose Him. It is cool, though, that God chose us FIRST and constantly pursues us - but still, we have to choose Him. Anyway, in today's passage, God is very specific not only in the fact that He is giving us a choice, but that he PREFERS we choose life. Look at verse 19 again....YOU choose between life and death, blessings and curses. In my small mind, that's a no brainer. However, at the end of 19 the Word tells us how God prefers we choose LIFE. But not everyone chooses God because some choose disobedience, which never leads to life. As I read the chapter again this morning, I really set my heart to choose well, as this affects not only me but the generations that follow me. And then I shifted back to Thanksgiving dinner. This is my third Thanksgiving to feed myself and my family in a healthy manner. I obeyed God and chose health. Then, I made a difficult choice to shift our largest family meal of the year to an "all healthy journey", and now my children are embracing a healthy lifestyle and actually seeing the value in this. I choose life! I choose life with God and I choose life with health. Hey, I like getting to choose - and I choose LIFE. Have a great Thursday! PK