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Hasty Decisions

 Desire without knowledge is not good— how much more will hasty feet miss the way! (Proverbs 19:2)

Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure. (I Timothy 5:22)

          Years ago, when I was shopping for a car, I had it down to two. I talked to my father about it, and he kept humming and hawing. I wasn’t doing any better. I’m not a car person. For me, it needs to have a CD player, an air conditioner, and run. Those are the non-negotiables. After discussing things with him and not reaching a conclusion, I realized that we had two problems. I don’t want to make a wrong decision, and he didn’t want to make any decision. I finally asked him which he would get if he were getting it for himself, and that’s why we got.

          I like to make right decisions, and I hate to make arbitrary decisions. This or that, here or there? If it doesn’t matter, what does it matter? That’s part of the reason I like to randomly generate characters for my stories. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter, but I need to know.

          In addition to wanting to make the right decision, I like decisions to be made. Now. That’s one of the things I like about bulk cooking and meal planning. You don’t have to decide what you’re going to eat. The decision has already been made. Of course, if you get to that day and really don’t want what’s on the menu, you can change it. If I don’t make a decision now, I end up on a gerbil wheel, gnawing on it incessantly and becoming less and less able to arrive at the right decision.

          Unfortunately, making quick, gut-level decisions – while sometimes necessary – is often unwise. Haste makes waste. Scripture seems to agree with that chestnut. Wisdom doesn’t hurry. I tend to think of myself as being incapable of not hurrying. That’s one of the things that drives me bats about gardening. I plant seeds, and they are supposed to be growing within a week or I’m grinding my teeth and trying to figure out what else to plant there. And five weeks later I have two different plants growing. Oops.

          That’s one of the things about making conscious decisions. It forces one to slow down, to be aware of making the decision at the very least. The more important the decision, the longer we should take to make it.

          The other thing that bugs me about making decisions is that I want God to make it clear what decision to make. A good decision is the one that God picks, except when it’s not the one I’d pick. Oh, I know that God’s choices are the best choices, but that doesn’t change the fact that sometimes I lie to myself when I say I want to do the right thing. I want to do what’s right for me – according to me. I want God to pat me on the back and say, “Good choice!”

          And often, God doesn’t make the “good choice” clear, especially not as fast as I want Him to. I suspect it’s a way He causes our faith to grow. We have to make up our own minds and move forward, trusting Him as we get out of the boat to walk on water. The goal may not be the choice. It might be the faith.

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