The Coffee Talk Companion: "Choices."

The Coffee Talk Companion is an ongoing feature in which we dissect and discuss former Facts of Life star Lisa Whelchel's online journal entries.

Praise the lord! She's busy this week, which means she kept it short! An early Kwanzaa gift, indeed.

Would you mind saying a quick prayer for me if you think of it over the next couple of weeks? I’m just simply overwhelmed with work that needs to be done and not enough days to get it all done. Please pray specifically as I attempt to create this Bible Study Scrapbook project that I’m writing. It is so complicated, there are so many little pieces to pull together, and the deadline is looming. I also need to write all of the scripts that I will be filming for the DVD portion of the Bible Study that we will be filming November 7-10. (Please pray for the filming, too.)

Well now we've heard everything! She wants us to pray for a scrapbook and DVD this week. Because when you're as busy as Lisa Whelchel, it's important to get as much help as you can from people who certainly aren't as busy dealing with, say, reality.

On top of all that, I’m writing “The Busy Mom’s Guide to Bible Study.” That deadline is Tuesday but I’m way behind the writing curve on that one.

Well, clearly she's not so busy that she couldn't make up shit like "way behind the writing curve." The only prayers we'll be doing will be for the English language.

Steve has been out of town on business almost continuously and the young woman who helps with the kids while we are out of town (or when I need to write) was called to Michigan for a family emergency.

Smart.

To say the least, God is really stretching my faith, but I’m choosing to trust Him.

Stupid.

And wouldn’t you know it, God has decided to use this very stressful time to do a little “heart surgery” while He’s at it. So, my emotions are frayed.

Ours, too. Listen, maybe he's just answering the prayers of someone else for once. Like those, perhaps, of a group of bikers whose recent trip to Vermont was ruined by two selfish ninnies. Or those of three kids trapped in a singular kind of hell.

The other day, I wrote the following statement on a flight from Kentucky to Dallas after feeling like the enemy was really doing his best to cloud my vision.

Choose You This Day

I choose to trust
When fear blinds

I choose to serve
When sacrifice bleeds

I choose to grow
When the seed is dying

I choose to feel
When passion is dangerous

I choose to hope
When desire disappoints

I choose to love
Because You said,

"Lisa, I choose you this day"

I don’t know why God chose me to live this life but I’m grateful and I will not let the enemy steal my joy.

OK.

Here's the thing, Lisa.

In seventh grade one of our teachers, on the first day of school, asked us to keep in mind a certain question throughout the year:

What's the best use of my time right now?

In seventh grade, and even still, we found said question to be somewhat annoying and patronizing. However, we must admit that asking ourselves "What's the best use of my time right now?" has helped us prioritize and organize at least a little bit. We bring this up because, Lisa, at the beginning of this short Coffee Talk entry, you complain about how busy you are, how many deadlines you have, how many writing curves you're missing etc. But then, you go ahead and tell us about how you used precious time on a two-hour flight to write a poem essentially expressing how you don't have time to get any work done. While god was apparently choosing you this day, Lisa, you were choosing to ignore what you should have been doing during that time: getting some fucking work done.

The thing is, you seem to be on the right track here to understanding that we all make choices, Lisa. Everything that happens to us in life is based on the choices we make. However, should you make a bad choice, it's up to you to realize what you've done and find a way to fix it. In your case, Lisa, you wrote a cute little poem on a plane when you could have been using the precious time to do actual work, work that is now causing you to ask us to pray for your future because you're, well, running out of time. If we may paraphrase a certain poem:

We choose to laugh at you.

Girl, you made your bed, now sleep in it! And by that, we mean, GET TO WORK! (We just want to be clear in case Lisa actually thought we meant she should go to sleep.)

Oh, and one more choice on our part:

We choose to end this here.