Life with a teenager is a roller coaster.  If you have one, you live that truth.  There are moments that you simply want to beat your head up against a wall.  Then out of nowhere, you have just the opposite experience.  Recently, my 13-year-old daughter impressed me.  She loves music.  Well… that is not a strong enough statement.  She lives music.  She sings in the choir.   She plays in the band.  She eat, sleeps, and even breathes music.  In recent days, she has begun private lessons… Flute, Piano, and now Bass guitar.  While I want to support her endeavors, I became concerned that perhaps she was spreading herself a little thin.  With homework and church, there is only a few moments left in her day.  Without our prompting, she made a choice.  She went to her band director and told him that she needed to back out of private flute lessons.  She made a choice that will help her stay a little more sane.  She had to choose the better to make sure everything didn’t suffer.  Are flute lessons a good thing?  If you are in the band playing flute, then yes.  Are piano lessons good?  Yes.  Are Bass guitar lessons a good thing?  Yes, especially if you bought your daughter a brand new Bass for her 13th birthday.  But as with everything, you sometimes must set aside a good thing to make sure the better prevails.

As Christians, we must make sure that we are choosing the better thing with our families, in our jobs, and at our church.  There are lots of good things that we can be involved in, but the better will allow us to have a greater impact for the Kingdom and a more God-honoring life.  Think about Mary and Martha.  These were two sisters who both loved Jesus.  In Luke 10:38-42, the Holman Christian Standard Bible says…

While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.  She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said.  But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”  The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Mary and Martha were both doing good things, but Mary chose the better.  She looked at both tasks and knew that spending time with Jesus was easily the better.  Often, we let the expectations of others dictate what we choose to do.  Mary didn’t do that.  She chose Jesus.

Will you choose the better today?  Choose wisely in all that you do and God will be honored.