Frank Minirth - Choosing Happiness Even When Life Is Hard

Choicesthe Hinges of Destiny

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Is happiness a choice? Are choices the very hinges of destiny? Do we make choices or are we just a product of our genes, as some scientists say? Are we just a product of our past, as some psychologists say? Are we just a product of Gods sovereignty, as some theologians say? Indeed, do we have a free will? Do we chart our own course in life, or are we just on autopilot?

I believe we can make choices in life that will produce health and will help us overcome emotional problems (addictions, anxiety, anger, discouragement, depression, despair, burnout, grief, guilt, loneliness, and worry). We can learn about choices and how to make the ones that will give us hope and happiness.

Websters New World Thesaurus provides the following synonyms for the word choice : selection, preference, alternative, election, substitute, favorite, pick, a good bet. It is my premise that choices or alternatives or preferences are the hinges of destiny. The closing lines of Robert Frosts classic poem illustrate this:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

While I was growing up, my family attended a small evangelical church where, I recall, there was a tremendous emphasis on choice. In my memory I can still see the little white church in a grove of trees in the country, and my mind still reverberates with the hymns we sang that focused on will: Why do you wait, dear brother, O why do you tarry so long?... Why not accept His salvation? Renounce at once thy stubborn will, be saved, O tonight. Almost persuaded, now to believe; almost persuaded, Christ to receive.

Many years later I attended a seminary that emphasized the sovereignty of God. A few of my colleagues did not even believe in free will. They felt we didnt really have a choice in anything. They agreed with a Calvinist who, when he fell over a log accidentally, said, Thank God thats over. Ironically, during this same time period, I wrote two bestselling books on choice: Happiness Is a Choice and Love Is a Choice.

Do our free will and Gods sovereignty exist only as a paradox? The Bible teaches both. They do not negate one another. The Bible certainly teaches the sovereignty of God, but it also teaches the concept of choice.

The best-known verse on choice is Joshua 24:15: Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.... But as for me and my house, we will serve the L ord . Another interesting verse on choice is found in the New Testament: But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:42). A third great verse on choice is found in Deuteronomy 30:19: I call heaven and earth as witness today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.

I still believe in the sovereignty of God. He is omnipotent, ubiquitous, immutable, and in complete control; and yet the Bible also teaches the importance of our individual choices. It is our responsibility to choose to follow him and to choose the ways that lead to health and happiness.