CHOICES

A friend of mine wanted to give me some home-made goodies.  She lives at one end of city and I live at the other, so we agreed to meet in a certain part of town, the "rich" part of town.  As I made my way through the neighborhood of this "rich" side of town, I noticed the upscale houses, manicured  lawns and  the over priced vehicles parked outside these home dwellings. The occupants of these homes were outside walking their dogs, visiting with other neighbors and were actually taking down Christmas decorations. All seemed normal to me.

As I sat waiting for my friend to arrive in the parking lot of the trendy grocery market, I thought about the three men that I had met the other day, living in "tent city."  Their homes were not upscale, they had no manicured lawns or any type of transportation, yet they visited with their neighbors, my friends and me.   They had a dog to play with and walk.  They had no Christmas decorations, just a grocery cart, boxes, plastic jugs and empty food containers,gas cans and other objects that were thrown on the ground and had been there for sometime. 

Then I thought about where I lived probably like where most of you live.  Neighborhoods that consist of the three bedroom, two car garage, privacy fence and the nice lawn that you labor every summer to make nice.

How do we get to these places where we live,  what choices did we make that allowed us to reach these humble abodes.  Did the rich people work hard, did they forget about others, sacrificing their family for their careers or is the wealth inherited.  The men living in tent city, what choice did they make, to give up family and careers to live on the streets.   Then what about me, what choice did I make to live like most people, the middle class life.

It really doesn't matter, we all have to make choices.  Sometimes we make the right decision and other times we just messed up.  But the one choice we need to make is how we treat others, simply loving each other as Christ like as we can.  Whether you live in the upscale part of town, living in a tent or just being middle class you need to treat everyone as your neighbor.  Remember the golden rule "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Remember we are all the same, people trying to get by in life the best we can.