One of my professors at Moody is notorious for his deeply intellectual, non-sequential, difficult to follow lectures. Because he seemingly bounces all over the place, I made it my goal to take away one nugget of brilliance each lecture. He probably had a few dozen, but I’m only smart enough to grab one.

In one of his lectures while he was discussing Europe’s transition out of the Middle Ages, he made this statement:

Choice is empowerment. When the people get the choice, the people get the power.

He moved on. He never expounded.

I’ve continued to reflect on that statement ever since. It really is true. Power flows from the authority to make decisions.

How many times have you been in conversation where you voiced complaints or suggestions and someone said, “Guys, my hands are tied. I don’t have any say over that.” They don’t have power because they don’t have choice.

The tricky thing is getting choice into the hands of the right people.

Being independence day, it seemed liked a fitting time for this post. Those of us in the United States are fortunate enough to live in a country where we have choice. The challenge is using our choice to empower those who will make wise choices.