Alice claims she has chosen the epitaph for my tombstone; it is, “He Kept His Options Open.” “Keep Your Options Open” is often heard around the Geiger household, and it reminds us to make the extra effort to open or keep open one more door of opportunity we might one day want to enter. So Margaret is encouraged to apply to several colleges, and Alice is taking a course to prepare for the Graduate Record Exam just in case she might want to go for her Master’s some day. Come to think of it, maybe this one belongs on her marker, too!
The extra mile, the added effort will help you KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN!
It strikes me that I have always thought of this Geigerism as merely self-serving. But why should that be the case? The former thief is instructed in scripture to “labor…so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Eph. 4:28). The elder (and presumably all believers) “must hold firm to the trustworthy word… so that he may be able to give instruction” (Titus 1:9). We are to always be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks…for the hope that is in [us]” (1 Peter 3:15). Those are the verses that come to mind immediately. There are surely many others! Being prepared is not only good for us, it keeps open the option of being good to others.