Being able to make choices is a gift from God. But, unfortunately, it can also be a problem. But whichever it is, technology is taking some choices away from us. We used to look at a map to find our way to a new address; now, we press a button on our phones, and a map appears, leading us to our destination. And remember learning to parallel park? Now, there’s automobile technology that does it for us…and with no hands! Even tests and charts are available to tell us whether or not we have chosen the right husband or wife. I could go on, but you get the point. The gift of choice is being downplayed and relegated to something we shouldn’t want or need.

What about your life choices? My choices have taught me the difference between depending on the world for my happiness and depending on my God to walk with me through every mountaintop and valley experience.

Choices define us. The devil convinced Eve that God was holding back on what she could have. She put her trust in the wrong thing, and you know the rest of the story.

The bottom line is that we still make wrong choices; we’re human, and there will be many wrong choices before our lives end. But there will always be a God who stands with us to the end, no matter the choices we make. We can depend on no other human being to do that.

About the author: Previously the priest at St. Francis of Assisi in Lake Placid for 21 years, Rev. Elizabeth L. Nelson is now the Priest at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in LaBelle.