The Impact of One Small Choice

How many decisions do you think we make in a lifetime? I think it would be safe to say millions.

Maybe they all don’t appear to be earth shattering on the surface, like the day we gave our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ or the day we said “yes” to our Prince or maybe when some made a decision to move to a different state.

Most of our decisions are probably small. They seem so small that we don’t consciously stop to think about the impact they might have on our life.

But they do have an impact, either for the better or for the worse.

Let me use the example from Charles Duhigg who wrote The Power of Habit (a fascinating book that completely holds your attention from beginning to end). You have two people and each day one makes a decision to eat a hamburger and french fries for lunch and the other one a salad.  Not necessarily a big decision but over time the results of that decision will be measurable.

A Choice + An Action repeated over and over = Big Impact

What can this mean for us?  How does this apply to our lives?

Let’s take Words.  What if each time there was a problem within the family, instead of saying something hurtful to our children or spouses, we would stop and hold our tongue?

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs18:21

Giving life to others sounds like a good choice. 🙂

What about making a decision to read our Bibles and pray every night?  What kind of difference do you think it would make in our life?

Daniel in the Bible did not hear an answer to his prayers for 21 days BUT, God had heard and 21 days later we read in Daniel 10:12…

Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Daniel 10:12

What do you think would have happened if he had made the choice NOT to pray?

How about the choice to say something kind.  The first time we did it, it might not stand out because we can all say something nice at least once.  But what if we did it over and over again.  What kind of impact would it have?

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24

Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. Job 4:4

What about choices like taking out the garbage, picking up clothing we have laying around or doing laundry?

All small things really, but if we let any of them slide we have a disaster on our hands.

Small things done consistently will create an enormous difference in our home and lives.

Of course, once we make a decision, it tends to have a ripple effect leading to another and another.  Our days are made up of bundles of choices.

Let’s be sure that we are making the right ones and then repeat them over and over.

A Choice + An Action repeated consistently = Big Impact

But it all begins with that first choice.