“There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14:12

My husband and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this month. As we reflected on our two decades together, we commented that the act of “choosing” is so powerful. Marriage is the practice of choosing each other over and over. We could have thrown in the towel when things were hard, but we chose not to. We could look for fresh new romance elsewhere, but we choose to find contentment in more profound love for each other every day. Ironically, a couple of days later, my son and I had a similar conversation about choosing food. He’s a growing athlete, and he’s beginning to understand the importance of fueling his body. About halfway through the conversation, he said, “I guess that means I can’t have sugar anymore, I can’t have this, I can’t have that.” It led to a great discussion about how vital semantics are to victory. Rather than looking at those things as restrictions that he “can’t have,” he can remind himself that he simply doesn’t choose them because they don’t support his goals.

We all make hundreds of choices every day. We choose whether to get up early or sleep. We choose our attitudes. We choose what and into whom we invest our time. And, we choose what we will eat and how we will move our bodies. Today, I encourage you to look at your health journey as a choice. You will be bombarded by options for restrictive diets, extreme workouts, and enticing weight loss plans in the weeks ahead. You will have a choice. But when you empower yourself and understand that nothing is genuinely off-limits, it’s simply not something you choose because it doesn’t help you achieve your goals, leave you feeling well and satisfied, or is all that important to you, you find new resolve. Pray and ask God to give you His vision for your best next choice than simply follow that one decision at a time.