How could I start making better choices? Something Wayne Dyer had said years ago had captured my imagination, "I can choose peace rather than this." This is fabulously useful in conflict situations but it goes much deeper into what I call, "The Way of Peace."

The Apostle Paul believed that the Peace of God could guard our heart and mind. I knew that a step away from peace was a step towards war. My heart and my mind were at war – not with each other but with a Universe that wasn't working for me. The war had raged for years.

It is time for peace. So, today, I choose decisions that bring me peace – decisions where my heart and mind both say, "Yes!"

A Heart Full of Treasure.

My heart has something else to contribute to the process. Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also." Is it taking too many liberties to suggest that where your heart is, there will your treasure be also? Could it be that what my heart loves points the way to my treasure?

Just imagine, if I could find something I loved and that my heart and my mind were at peace about, surely I would find my treasure, wouldn't I? Could it be that success lies along the path of peace and the path of that which we love to do?

Regardless of your personal beliefs, there is wisdom in the Biblical principle of establishing every matter through the testimony of two or three witnesses. I wanted a 3rd way to check the quality of my future choices.

Fullness of Joy.

When you're in the right place, when you're making the right choices, there is a richness of joy. When something isn't right, you sense it, and you can lose your joy. So here is my third guide to right choices: joy.

I thus have a trinity of guiding principles:

· Does this choice bring me peace in my heart and my mind?

· Does pursuing this choice lead me down a path that I would love to follow?

· Does this choice bring me joy?

Of course, peace, love and joy are three segments of what is called, "The Fruit of the Spirit." The ultimate test of any right choice is going to be the quality of the fruit it produces. Good choices produce good fruit, worthwhile treasure.

Is it time to plant new choices, new fruit trees?

I know it is for me.

Lex

A Moodscope member.