This One Thing...

There is one thing I want. One thing that I will spend every day of my life doing everything in my power to obtain. One thing that I hold dear. One thing that I truly feel is worth fighting for, sacrificing for, and struggling for. What is it?

It's been said before. Said well. In Psalm 27, verse 4:

One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

And truly, in spite of anything else I may desire and seek or long for, this is my deepest desire. My deepest longing. The one and only thing in this life that is worth longing for. The only thing that can universally keep me up is the thought that others may not long for this, and worse, they won't have it. It's not my judgement, it's not my choice. It's not something I would ever, for any price, choose for someone else. There are two options for eternity: Heaven and Hell.

Listen to what God said in Deuteronomy chapter 30: 11-20:

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the Word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life, and He will give you many years...

This is significant. The choice between death and life is ours. The decision is made by us. We choose life, or we choose death.

Today, I choose life. And the thing that really jumps out at me, that really registers within me, is this: "Choose life, so that you and your children may live." My children are all in heaven. Each spent a time in my womb, but the time was too short. I couldn't tell you the color of their eyes, or the way they would laugh. I don't know if they are boys or girls (with the exception of our daughter, whom God revealed to us). I don't know what they would have enjoyed here on earth.

But today, this day, I choose life. I choose His ways. I choose His will. So that I and my children may live.