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November 20 - December 18, 2021
Most of us go through life praying a little, planning a little, jockeying for position, hoping but never being quite certain of anything, and always secretly afraid that we will miss the way. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy
It doesn’t matter what the specific decision is. Unmade decisions hold power.
“We earnestly pray for the right ideal, for guidance in each questionable situation, for sanity, and for the strength to do the right thing.”1
It’s estimated that adults make over 35,000 decisions every day. A study at Cornell University revealed that Americans make over two hundred daily decisions on food alone.
Rather than a life plan, a clear vision, or a five-year list of goals, the leper, the paralytic, and Jairus and his wife were given clear instructions by Jesus about what to do next—and only next.
What a privilege it is to have a choice to make at all.
The decision is rarely the point. The point is you becoming more fully yourself in the presence of God.
“Our Western minds are trained to go down the path of explaining. We think if we can understand it, then we can control it.” It’s true, don’t you think? We are conditioned to believe the only reason we should do things is if we know why, where we are headed, and for what purpose. No wonder we have trouble making decisions. If we don’t have clear answers or sure things, then taking a big step feels like a risk at best and a wasteful mistake at worst. If I understand it, then I can control it.
Decisions shape our lives. But what we often overlook is not only how our choices shape outcomes but how they shape us too. They reveal our character and help to create our character.
Unmade decisions have the power to either close us up in fear or open us up to love. This is both the burden and the gift of our indecision. We get to choose which one we carry.
The world is run by worn-out people, and our soul is often lost beneath the piles of our everyday life.
our soul receives frequent input with infrequent output.
How am I regularly getting rid of the soul clutter I no longer need?
Becoming a soul minimalist does not mean that you should hold on to nothing but rather that nothing should have a hold on you.
Stillness is to my soul as decluttering is to my home.
We’re letting everyone else’s agenda live for free in the sacred space of our creative mind, and it’s time for an eviction. This space is necessary for ideas to form, for questions to rise up, for hope to weave her way into our vision for the future, and for the dots of decision to begin to connect in the quiet places of our mind and heart. Good decisions require creativity, and creativity requires space.
Dallas Willard says we always live what we believe; we just don’t always live what we profess we believe.
Logic and limits often get in the way of longing. And longing is key to our growth.
It’s important to be able to answer the question What do you really want?
Dallas Willard, in his book The Divine Conspiracy, says “the most important thing about you is not the things you achieve but the person you become.”2
Am I being led by love or pushed by fear?
Knowing what she wanted was important, but knowing what she wanted more helped her to take her next right step.
When reading in the Gospels, I’ve learned to pay close attention to Jesus, specifically what he says and does but, maybe more importantly, also what he doesn’t say and doesn’t do. The action of God in the person of Jesus is recorded for us in Scripture.
