Deuteronomy 30:19 “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!”
From 1933 to 1937, Viktor Frankl completed his residency in neurology and psychiatry at the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital in Vienna. But it was during the war when he ended up in a Nazi concentration camp that his newfound specialism developed. It was a freedom that his aggressors could not take away from him. He discovered that he could always find meaning in any situation, however sordid, and therefore a reason for living. He wrote: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Now, when someone has been through what he has been through and has walked the talk in such horrific circumstances, I’m inclined to believe him. It was clear to him that life is full of choices. We’re making choices every day and we often don’t know it. Something happens to us and we react. In that split second, we’ve chosen, albeit instinctively, to react that way.
Another man who suffered years of imprisonment was Alexander Solzenitsyn. He made a similar point: “I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude… A man is happy so long as he chooses to be happy and nothing can stop him.” These are challenging words forged in the crucible of suffering.
So if the last of our human freedoms is the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances, will we take responsibility (note we are response-able) for our attitudes, actions and choices today?
Our wonderful source of life instruction is the word of God – the Bible. Whether we choose to take these instructions seriously or not, we’re actually making a choice either way. We can’t get away from it. Freedom was high on Victor Frankl’s agenda, but responsibility was even higher. He believed it is our responsibility to choose our reaction. How about you?
Lord, I choose love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22,23) today. Amen!
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