May 5, 2026

After The Story | Episode 47

After the Story - Choices Like Rivers - Episode 47

This podcast discusses each chapter of Choices Like Rivers and each episode is posted directly after the book episode. This corresponds to Chapter 17 Section 1.

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I really like this section. I think it is packed with many life lessons for each of us. Donna had the opportunity to fashion Molly Sue’s life the best way she could. In this section she ponders what will she write on the operating hard drive of Molly Sue’s life that will guide her for the rest of her life.

Donna does well. The template she chooses is from I Corinthians 13, the love chapter. But Donna is smart and knows that for Molly Sue to truly learn those attributes she must also see Donna living like that herself.

We must remember when we are raising our own children, that it is us that creates the pattern of life in our children. We can tell them what to do, but if they don’t see us doing those things, but the opposite, it creates internal conflict in them.

If we say don’t lie, but they see us lying as a pattern of behavior, then they don’t trust our word. The same goes for all that we say and do. If we say to behave in a certain way, then we too should behave that way. We must model that behavior to them.

In fact they will model the bad behavior they see us do. Many parents then criticize and condemn their older children for having the same traits and doing the same things that they do when it was that behavior that was modeled to them.

Many years ago I was reading that chapter in I Corinthians. As I was reading I heard God say, “Do you know where I got that pattern of love from?”. I couldn’t answer. He then said, “That is the way I am and the way I love.”

I read it again over and over with that thought in mind. I like the way it reads in The Living Bible:

I Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, 5 never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. 6 It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out. 7 If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him.

That is a high bar that Jesus has set for us, and yet that is the way that He loves us.

One part that stood out to me, and still does, is where in verse 5 it says that love ‘hardly even notice when others do it wrong.’ And yet we feel God notices every single thing we do wrong. We feel constant condemnation when He is actually loving us.

Then I read in that same verse where it says, ‘not irritable or touchy.’ My how often I have fallen short on that with those I love. I strive to do better just like Donna, every single day.

Donna did pick the perfect template by which to train Molly Sue with, and to pattern her own life after. We would all do well to follow suit.