Right, but Really Hard (October 25, 2012)

…Opening To…

Decision is a risk rooted in the courage of being free. (Paul Tillich, Theologian)

…Listening In…

You are definitely my rock and my fortress. Guide me and lead me for the sake of your good name. (Psalm 31:3; context)

…Filling Up…

Practicing God’s presence at all times helps us make the best decisions, whether small or big. So many small choices happen every day and deciding them in the light of God’s yearnings for us is the best way to live. This is the overarching theme I hope you get out of this week. But today I want to focus on something a little different. It still has to do with decision-making, though, so stick with me.

Sometimes you are faced with a choice. You pray about it, you think about it, maybe you write down lists of pros and cons. Each of the choices makes you feel discouraged or just so small in the face of the long, long path the decision could take you down. For one reason of another, in the end, neither choice feels right. They both (or they all) just feel somehow wrong. So what do you do?

The first thing to do is start over to make sure you didn’t miss an option. So you do that and then you end up back where you were before. None of the options feels right, but perhaps something inside you stirs you towards one of the choices, even though it feels wrong. You’ve now come to a tricky situation. How do you choose between the wrong option and the right (but really really hard to do) option. The right (but really really hard to do) option feels wrong at first because you just can’t wrap your head around what it would mean to take it on. It’s just too big, too daunting.

For example, perhaps you start smoking and despite your best efforts, you become addicted. You know smoking is wrong because of the harm it can do to you and people around you. But you look at the right choice – quitting – and it feels wrong, too. The right choice feels wrong because it is just so darn hard to do.

Here’s where we return to the daily-ness of decisions. By recognizing God’s presence each day in our lives, we can make the right choices more often than not. When faced with the right (but really really hard to do) choice, we have to make it every single day. We don’t make it just once. We make it over and over again. In our example, the choice not to smoke happens every day, maybe every hour. We can’t make the right (but really really hard to do) decisions just once. They’re too big. So thank God that we can make them over and over again with God’s help.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the rock in whom I trust. Help me to turn to you for strength when I in the midst of making right, but really really hard decisions. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.