By virtue of being alive, we are chosen because God made us when he didn’t have to. I am trying to understand what chosen is all about; maybe not so much a one time event, but a series of events. It seems like we choose some things, and other things choose us. We are chosen to be beings with free will, so everyday we are choosing all sorts of things- like our attitudes and reactions. And today, since I just ate a big candy bar and had 2 pieces of pizza, I think I am choosing to be fat. Then there are the things big or small that we don’t seek out, but happen anyway- we can be chosen to be the one who rescues someone from a burning building, because we are the one walking down a particular street at a particular time, or the one chosen to smile at someone because they smiled at us (same street, different time/same time, different street). In the scheme of things, maybe the smile was the most critical assignment.
I don’t know how much is under our control, how much our prayers or wishes affect things. If things are going my way, the thought I had input isn’t so bad. But if things aren’t working out, who wants to think that you have chosen the wrong path with every step? Hopefully God will always trump our poor decisions with better ones when we need him to.