Sixteen

You have to love Publix and their buy one-get one specials. There are only a few items that we purchased at BOGO time. Mayo was one that Roger had on a schedule. Every 12 weeks, the rotation would have his mayo on BOGO. ONLY Hellman's would do. Not the lite stuff either.

Sixteen - 16 - the number he would acquire at BOGO time. This would get him through to his next BOGO time. In right at four months, I have not used up one single jar of mayo.

How in the world Roger passed all of his medical tests in good form, when I fussed at him all the time about certain foods, I will never understand. My faith continues to remind me that God knows and numbers our days, so I am going to accept that while he could have chosen to fall victim to my nagging about foods, God likely still numbered his days.

I am just choosing to accept that he had a balance in life that made him comfortable. After all there is only so much that you can control in this life. I find myself wondering if the nagging about food was worth it. Perhaps I controlled what could have been an even worse diet.

Roger's Lesson:  Let it go, darlin'.  Woulda coulda shoulda is not going to get you anywhere and you can not totally control another person and their habits anyway.

Yes, even when it is someone you love. Free will. God gave us that. I don't so much know that God intended for us to use much free will in reference to mayonnaise, but I know He gave it to us.

Everything I read lately takes me back to this. Free Will. God gave it to us. He intended it for all areas of our life. What we say, think, do, even eat. How we relate to others, where we spend our time, who we hang with. 

What we forget though, is that free will also comes with consequences. Well, both rewards and consequences. Choose wisely, get the reward or blessing, at least most of the time. Choose poorly, and the consequence can be worse than what you might prefer or even imagine.

Now the big decision - what's it gonna be?

Maybe it is time to explore each area of life. What choices do I make. How do they line up with God's guidance? It kind of seems sometimes like that is an awful lot of control over what is supposed to be 'free will' and yet, I am really finding that when I trust God with the little details of life, I have this whole world of freedom that I might not have gotten around to enjoying otherwise.

God is not there to control, but to guide. Wow....now that is freedom!

Free Will - on God's terms, it is a good thing!

But I often wish that I had been more demanding about the mayonnaise.