Pick and Choose

This is what I have lived with

My entire life I’ve had this whole universe

Galaxies filled with solar systems upon solar system of information

Right at the tips of my fingers

And it was because of this that I never realized

Just how much different stuff I did on this device

I would find games in the app store that I could play for hours on end

I would look up the answers to that physics problem that I had absolutely no idea how to do

I would binge watch an entire season Stranger Things over the course of a weekend

And it wasn’t until then when I made a very important revelation

Whatever I spent my time on

Whatever I watched or listened to in my free time

Became what I thought about all of the time

That’s when I realized that I had a very important decision to make

My senior year of high school I took 6 AP exams

So when I finally sat down to complete my homework of coloring in pictures with crayons

I had to decide what I would spend that time listening to

Would I listen to the newest Taylor Swift song

(Even though I have never loved Taylor Swift and have definitely never been that person who says

“OMG, I am like, your biggest fan. I even have an I heart TS tattoo on my chest!!)

Yeah, no.

Would I listen TED talks centering around spoken word poetry

The different stories from everyone

From Single mothers

To World War Two Veterans

To young people searching for love

That seemed to fuel my own words

And give me inspiration to write them

Would I listen to the most recent sermon from my church

Listening to the Word of God

And hearing him speak to me

Knowing that along with the peace reassurance forgiveness and love he shows me

I will also feel convicted for all the things that I have not done right

And all the things that I could do better

In a world in which time is so limited

One in which work and school and family and obligations seem neverending

Which of these things would I choose

Or maybe I should say will I choose

Because as this poem is being written

I am here

Pondering this very decision

Maybe the fact that while all this floated around in my head

Loud and questioning

Demanding an answer

I then turned around a wrote a poem

Says a lot about me