Three children were taken into the candy store by their father who said, "Now each of you can have a candy bar -- whatever kind you'd like."

The first child said, "I'll take that giant-sized bar."

The youngest said, "I'd like several kinds, but I can't have chocolate. I am allergic to it, so what can I have?" Then she made her choice shortly.

The third child was dismayed at the great number of choices. She wavered back and forth and finally started to cry. "I can't make up my mind," she said in her tears. "You tell me."

"No," her father said, "it's your choice, whatever you like."

"I just don't know," cried the daughter.

Like a loving father, God offers many blessings to His children and the freedom of choice is one of the blessings, as well as a route to many important decisions. The father was teaching his three children to make their own decisions in many matters, as well as revealing a generosity.

The oldest child had already developed his taste and his choice in the matter of a candy bar. It was an easy decision.

The youngest child had learned that, though she loved chocolate, it was not good for her skin and she must choose something more suitable, which she did.

The third child was so confused with the number of choices and the desire to please her father that she was unable to make a choice.

The father loved all the children regardless, but he knew that each one must learn to make his own choices in order to be happy in life.

He knew that failure to make a choice was in itself a bad choice, for it left the child empty-handed.

This is true of many people in regards to hobbies, work, church relationships, friendship and the joy of educational growth. It is not that all candy bars are the same or that all decisions bring the same results.

There are good deeds to be done every day and, though we cannot do them all, we ought to be doing some. Life offers opportunity to be blessed and to bless others.