Many decisions in life are made for us and the only real choice that remains is how we will respond. But we also have the responsibility to make the choices that are ours to make and not defer our decisions to others.
To own our choice means we must also own the consequences of the choice. And we’re more tempted to hide behind others or simply let life happen to us when we’re not confident in our decisions.
As such, we merely slide through life rather than making meaningful and grounded decisions to move our life forward.
This happens, for example, when we don’t make a decisive decision to pursue a particular relationship or not.
We stay in the relationship as long as the other is choosing us. And it ends whenever they stop pursuing or other external circumstances force us in a different direction.
Either way, we never had the guts to make a clear decision ourselves. We simply went with the flow and allowed life to happen to us.
And this plays out in our work, sociopolitical life, and even religion as well.
All too often we’re either too lazy or too cowardly to make our own decisions. And this often is to avoid conflict and the cost of the choices we must make.
And, to be sure, many things don’t matter in the long run and every decision is not worth fighting for.
But we neglect our responsibility and invite much unnecessary suffering when we passively drift through life rather than making intentional decisions towards God’s best.
Don’t merely let life happen to you. Take responsibility for your path forward. This is the mark of faithful maturity and courage.
Photo by Maximilian Weisbecker on Unsplash
