Happy Trails?

I had quite a Friday night a few weeks ago. My sweet husband was officiating a football game, my daughter had gone to a football game, and so I decided to knock out my grocery shopping. I have a very specific pattern I follow in WalMart – center aisle with the bargains, dairy aisle, and then I start my zig-zag down each aisle. The sugar is located about mid-way through my trek. I picked up a 10 lb bag of sugar and started the last half of my shopping trip. 


Little did I know that I was leaving a steady trail of sugar all along my route due to a hole in the bag! About the time I got to the produce aisle, a WalMart associate came up to me and said, “Ma’am, do you have sugar?” Then a shopper right behind her said, “So you are the one!” I looked back and could see the trail of sugar everywhere – and to make it worse – the buggy traffic had ground it into the tile. They had to bring out the electric sweeper and make an announcement over the intercom, “Tom, come to aisle 12 for the sugar spill.” Yes indeed – I had caused quite the stir at Walmart and I didn’t even know it!


So do you realize the way you live your daily life is leaving behind a trail of something? Guess what? You get to decide what that trail is made of! What if someone followed your trail and was able to see the consequence of what you were leaving behind. Would they find a sweet trail or one of bitterness? A trail that positively impacts people or a small life of insignificance?


Stuff happens in all of our lives – sometimes really bad stuff.  We find ourselves justifying our bad behavior and our trail of bitterness or inaction because of what this or that person did to us way back then. Or perhaps you think you are stuck in a circumstance that is hopeless. It is during these times that you must change your thinking. Changed thinking leads to changed behaviors which leads to changed results. In other words, it changes the trail you are leaving behind!


There comes a point in our lives where we take responsibility for our choices in how we treat the people around us. We take responsibility for the choices that are negatively impacting our health and well being. When we treat others badly, it may make us feel better in the moment. Same thing is true when we over-induldge in food – it makes us feel better in the moment. Rarely do we take time to think about long-term consequences of our actions. Those very behaviors are determining the trail we are leaving behind. 


Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, “I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” I love this verse because it tells us that we do have a choice. We can make decisions that will improve the quality of our life and those around us. 


God posed two choices in those verses and then even told us what to pick – LIFE! I don’t know about you – but I choose life and blessings instead of death and curses. Choose to leave a sweet trail behind like I did in WalMart a few weeks ago! You are leaving a trail of something behind whether you realize it or not – and that trail is your CHOICE!