Micro-Choices

“They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 MSG)

During a wedding, the bride and groom make a life-time commitment to each other. They promise to love and cherish each other, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health. These vows are validated or undermined by the thousands of micro-choices they make for the rest of their time together. Every day, they get to decide whether to treat each other with respect, kindness, honesty, and appreciation. Thoughts, tones, words, body language, behavior--all convey devotion or the lack of it.  When a couple gets divorced, most everyone points to the macro-flaws--infidelity, ideological differences, addiction, etc. Yet, it’s the commonplace cracks, which multiply over time, that truly cause the breach.  

Many of us, at some point in our lives, make a commitment to God. Depending on our religious background, we may have different terms and ceremonies that mark this moment. Our devotion is proved or disproved by the thousands of micro-choices we make in our day-to-day living--our attitudes, our thoughts, our responses, our actions. It’s the commonplace details, the consistent dedication, and the attentive discipline that sustains our commitment to the Lord.

 “Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times.” (2 Corinthians 6:4 MSG)