Decisions Decisions

Hey there! I hope that you are enjoying the kind of health that money isn’t able to buy, or are experiencing health improvement.

Now before I start rip writing like the wind. Yesterday was Memorial Day. So I’d just like to take a moment to pay homage to all the soldiers who sacrificed themselves for things like inalienable rights and duty. With great gratitude, I salute the memory of all these men and women.

Amen and amen. Let us blog on.

Every since men, women, and children have been around, people have been faced with making decisions from day to day. Ya?

Sometimes our decisions are made from a list of multiple choice choices. Remember those multiple choice test back when we were in… Yeah! I thought you hadn’t forgotten. Multiple choice test were the best, don’t you think? Usually the multiple choices were either A B C or D. Multiple choice test helped cut down on the odds of our choosing a wrong answer, a little. We eliminated the choices that didn’t sound right, and cut down the odds even more in our favor. With this kind of multiple choice test you had a one if four chance of deciding on the right choice. But life decisions are a little bit different, ain’t they? Before you say anything, ain’t is dictionary correct. I checked. But I think, I probably should’ve used the word aren’t instead of ain’t. Sigh. Here I am talking about decisions, and here I am in the middle of making a decision that lacks correctness. My apologies. Let me just get my foot out of my mouth. Now where was I? Oh yeah. Life decisions.

What kind of life decisions would be a good question to ask here. Well take for example, what kind of hairstyle to get? …Or what to wear? (Or what kind of words to use.) Or major decisions, like what kind of car to buy, or who’s a stable person to date, or just plain old who can you trust? Oh there are a continent-load of other life decisions we wind up making as we go through life. But here’s the thing. There are very few bad decision do-overs. That is, once you legally commit to a bad decision, and follow through with it, there’s very little chance of shaking off the consequences. Can I get an oh yeah? Really? Cool!

Okay, bad decisions… Usually we don’t realize how bad a bad decision is until we start to feel the power of the consequences. I know! Because I’ve only made one or two bad decisions in my life. WHAT??!!

Hold on! The truth be told… If I were to actually try to sell you this lie, it would bring my total amount of bad decisions up to an even umpity-ump hundred million bad decisions. But I’ve seen the light. I really do try hard to keep down my bad decision count down these days.

Amen! Now in as few words as I can think of, here’s what I think a bad decision is. It’s a decision we make whenever we think we can avoid running into consequences. “Chances are nobody will find out, or there’s a good chance I won’t get into any trouble, or I can always lie my way out of it, or I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” are usually what we’re thinking when we decide to make a bad decision.

Ever wonder just what pushes us into making a bad decision? Any guesses? Making easy money, maybe? Impatience? Anger? Hate? Greed? Wait. Before I run through a couple gigabytes of data, let’s just say that nothing good persuades us into making a bad decision.

Hey. Right quick. Let me type into existence what I think scares us about having to make a major decision. I’m thinking it’s fear. Aw… I knew it! I shouldn’t have given out any clues.

But to be exact though, it’s the fear of making a wrong decision. “Yeah that’s it!” somebody might be saying to themselves. “What in the name of good mental health am I supposed to do when my knees are knocking with fear, every time I have to make a major decision?”

Good questions. My answer? I can think of just two things that will take the fear out of making a wrong decision. That’s faith and research. Having faith that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those that follow His ways. And also having faith that He will create a way for us to know His take is on whatever we’re having trouble deciding.

Where the research comes in? It is in the gathering up of as much reliable information as we can from trustworthy resources. Like people that have had experience with what we’re trying to decide, along with reputable articles and reports. Me personally, from researching in the bible too. Combining all these things will give a clearer perspective. And so, somewhere between God’s willingness to grant us His wisdom, and filling up our minds with solid written information, and the testimonies of people who have lived through what we are having to decide, we gain the courage to decide with confidence.

While I’m here, let me add this little extra understanding about the fear of making a wrong decision.

My mom and dad both lived into their nineties. They both had dementia. I had to make life decisions for both of them. -Like whether or not to choose DNR for them or not. (Do Not Resuscitate/no trying to bring them back to life if they had an organ failure, or a life threatening accident).

I was scared and nervous about making this decision. I didn’t want to make a wrong decision. I was responsible for making decisions they couldn’t make for themselves. So what should I do?

Well, I chose Faith and research. Now I know this going to sound religious, but I prayed to God to help me make this decision. And I also got information from doctors and hospice nurses on the subject.

I also talked to people I knew and trusted about what they would do. And through all the conversations I had about what decision to make, somehow God’s answer came through loud and clear. …In the form of a flash of understanding. Dementia was eating both my parent’s minds away. Their bodies were frail, and they were barely eating or drinking. And miraculously, both of my parents each let me know that they were tired of living. I made the decision with a peaceful mind. DNR, yes. So in the event they had a heart attack, they wouldn’t suffer any life extending medical care, just so that they could continue to suffer more wasting away.

Hey. Some decisions are way too big to handle alone. No tough decision is too small. But before you make a big decision, it doesn’t hurt to get help making it. From people you trust. But most of all, try getting help from the only person who knows everything, past present and future.

Bad decisions pile up consequences. Good decisions pile up peace of mind and favorable results.

Thanks again for reading. Until next read, May God let you know in many ways how much He loves you.