By When my sister and I were kids, our mom used to drive us to the bus stop to catch the bus to school. Without fail, every morning while waiting for the bus to come screeching its brakes to a stop to pick us up, my mom would recite her favorite spiel:
Remember you’re a Christian.
Make good choices.
The decisions you make today you pay for tomorrow.
Each time this was recited I would do a mental eye roll. These were things I already knew. She told us the same thing every day, so why remind us of them day in and day out?
Looking back though I love how she did that — how she reminded us of those things every day. Her repeating those phrases to us every day really engraved it into my brain. I’m grateful for it actually because I’m still reminded of those same phrases in my mind each day.
Lately I’ve been listening to Sadie Robertson’s Whoa That’s Good podcast. Some good stuff, man. Anywho, she always starts off the show with the same question: “What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?” While listening to it, I think of what my answer would be, and each time I can’t help but think the same thing.
The decisions you make today affect your life tomorrow.
I know it’s slightly different than what my mom used to say to us all those years ago in our minivan, but the concept is still the same. What you do today has an affect on your tomorrow. Good or bad.
Each day we make thousands of decisions from what you pick out to wear in the morning, to choosing between that donut and a piece of fruit (Okay, for real, this is a hard one for me to choose between). In the moment, these seem like such small decisions, but they all add up.
It’s like going to Target and looking at Target Dollar Spot. That’s a tricky place, friend. You go in there for one specific thing and get caught up in the dollar spot. It’s only a dollar or two until you find yourself with several things in your basket. Next thing you know, you’re paying $20 plus on things you didn’t really need in the first place.
And those examples are just concerning the small daily decisions. You then have to take into consideration the bigger life decisions as well. And these choices — both the bigger and mundane alike — will affect every aspect of your life, including the physical, emotional, financial, and spiritual.
In the pursuit of intentional living, the choices you make play a main part. You have to make the quality decision to do what you know will be beneficial to your life, your goals, and your aspirations, not just what will give you pleasure in a given moment. You have to have a long term mindset, such as will that donut help you out in the long run? Will it help get you to your goals concerning health? Questions such as these are what you have to ask yourself.
And no, I’m not telling you to never eat that donut, or whatever it is for you. I’m talking about moderation. Having a donut every once in a while is okay, but in moderation.
My life? The one main thing I allow to get in the way of my goals (that I shouldn’t allow) is spending too much time on social media. No, social media is not a bad thing… in moderation. If I’m not careful though, I can become so absorbed in the entertainment of it that I lose sight of the why behind my being on there in the first place as well as my other priorities in life.
For me, social media is a platform to encourage others, even if I’m just sharing the goings-on in my life. There can be so much dark and negativity coming from social media. My goal is to be that light in the darkness, and as a Christian I’m called let my light shine (see Matthew 5:16). And in this day and age, social media is a great way to do just that. However, I can sometimes become too preoccupied with it that I neglect my true aspirations and get sucked up into something that causes me to take my eyes off of my real life and family.
When this happens, I’m making a decision that doesn’t impact my tomorrow in a positive way. It may not necessarily affect it in a negative way, but it isn’t causing it to be pushed in a positive, productive direction either. (And again, in no way, shape, or form is entertaining yourself with social media a bad thing, as long as it’s done in moderation)
We each have to have goals, dreams, and visions for our lives for “where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). It’s not enough just to have these aspirations, we have to work towards them. Keep the vision in front of your eyes and make small, achievable goals that will help you achieve your vision.
Follow the Lord’s leading on this, and remember:
The decisions you make today will affect your life tomorrow.
Until next time, my friends.
Caleigh
An adventurer and coffee enthusiast at heart, Caleigh Ball has a passion for reaching out to others to inspire them to live with intention and purpose. As an ordained minister, she spends her time ministering as a youth pastor and is actively involved in Arise Ministries as the vice president and bookkeeper as well as one of the ministers. She enjoys life with her husband, Emmanuel, and their cat, Alaska, in their home state, Almost Heaven West Virginia.
Find Caleigh on Instagram at @caleigh.ball
by leaps and bounds 