In a World of Possibilities, How Does One Decide?
- Witty _1
- Oct 7, 2023
- 3 min read
Possibilities can range from simple choices or actions to more complex scenarios or events. For example, this weekend is my birthday weekend and one thing that always seems to occur on the weekend nearest my birthday is, everyone else looks to me to decide what we are doing. This is my families way of giving themselves and their time over to whatever it is I would like to do--their gift. In years past, sleeping in, a date night, a shopping trip, a massage or any number of events have been the way in which I chose to spend that alotted time. It's nice to have that privilege to choose.
Here in the United States, we are all acustomed to privilege. I don't say that with disdain, it's just the fact of the matter. We don't wake up fearful of someone coming onto our property and claiming domain because they hold more power than us, or at least most of us don't--I understand certain anxiety disorders might tell an individual otherwise. Rationally speaking, we are safe and free. Yet, daily we wake up to news stories, conspiracy theorists and some leaders in the church and of the state proclaiming disorder, division and blasting their fear and doubt cannons. When we could decide to shut it off, the majority must choose to stay tuned in, because the ratings continue to tell the media and our social algorithms to continue feeding it to us. "Keep it up", the cogs say!
Our society reflects our individuals. The same messages that each person is telling themselves, is the same message we are hearing in those external sources, because deep down there is disdain within us. There is division, within ourselves. We have an enemy inside of us. IT speaks messages of fear and doubt. It's a tale as old as time, beginning with Eve in the garden. "You will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil". Fear was introduced, then developed as a way to protect us from potential threats and increase our chances of survival. "To be alive, we must be all knowing like God"--surely a thought that crossed Eve's mind as she contemplated this new introduction to a fear. This fear of not being all-knowing.
How does that translate to today? Well, for me this morning, as my family asks of me what shall we do for your birthday, I felt a bit of anxiety over what to choose. A fear had somehow crept into the crack of my thought stream and in slipped "this is your day, don't waste it". I immediately had to counter it with, "I'm alive and breathing aren't I? Then, it's not going to be wasted. I will choose to be present with those whom's path I cross, and I will do a blog today."
Why a blog today? Well, because I find that if I don't do it, and keep putting it off, (despite the fact that while I am doing it, I really enjoy it and it feels like freedom on my fingertips, like breaking out of a cage I have been in for so long) that, somehow I will begin to fear it. I will let it become some mountain I have to climb, rather than just seeing it as the little thing that it is--typing out thoughts that, trust me, are streaming so constantly, without end, in my mind. Because somehow, the fear creates a cage and I live there.
If any message you are hearing is creating fear in you. Stop listening. That's not the right voice. That's the one that imprisons, holds you back, and turns you into a pillar of salt in the same way that Lot's wife was turned into a pillar for looking back at Sodom. Fear and doubt preserves you. It keeps you right where you are. It doesn't allow you to act, to fail, to learn, to grow, to live. So decide to live.
John 10:10 - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
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