I was in the floral section of the local grocery store yesterday, trying to decide between bouquets. It was a colleague’s birthday and I wanted her to feel extra special.

I was short on time so I quickly chose a beautiful pink bunch and made my way to the cashier.

Whether I chose carnations, roses, or tulips…it didn’t make a difference.

When she saw the flowers, she was surprised and tried to find the right words to show her appreciation.

My decision over the flowers was pretty simple and didn’t take much effort.

Others choices can have lifelong AND generational impact.

When my husband proposed to me on a late Friday night over ten years ago, I had a choice to make.

When we later got married, and we were deciding where to live, we had a choice to make.

These days, when we come home exhausted after a full day of work, tackling sports schedules and showers for the kids, we have a choice to make before we both hit the pillow:

How are we going to end our evening?

We choose family prayer.

Yes, there are days we do short ones or pray with them while they are already in bed.

But most days, we make an effort to sit in the family room with our Bibles, discuss a passage, and have each person pray.

The other night while we were sitting for family prayer, we came across the verse, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

It hit me right there.

The Choice.

“…as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Since my husband and I have made a conscious choice to make prayer a priority, I know for a fact that it will not only bless my children, but also their children and their children. I want my great great great grandchildren to love Jesus.

But much of that responsibility lies on the decisions I make today. Family prayer may seem like a mundane task. It isn’t.

Ladies, I will tell you- it’s not always easy…teaching young children how to respect time in God’s presence takes a LOT of patience. Sometimes giggles ensue and become contagious. Sometimes brother prays over his siblings’ faults, sometimes sister is making a distracting sound. (I’m trying to avoid names here…)

But I know that over time, they will learn to truly respect and ENJOY their time with Jesus.

Because Daddy and Mommy made a choice to make prayer a priority no matter what the day looked like.

So that night, we talked about good choices and the blessings that come out of it…and bad choices with the resulting consequences. We talked about how God is so gracious to allow us free will. He allows us to make our own decisions.

When you wake up tomorrow morning, you will be faced with a plethora of choices to make.

Some will be inconsequential…don’t waste too much time on these.

Others will have incredible impact. Spend time thinking, praying, and receiving wise counsel over these decisions.

What you ultimately decide tomorrow can affect your future and the generations that come after you.

What will you choose?

~Elizabeth

*Photo of the first message you will see when you enter our home

by betsy

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