Decisions

 

The playground at school can be brutal.  Or at least it used to be.  Today a teacher is always supervising, but back when I went to school, the playground was a jungle.  “Every man for himself” was the rule.  When I was in the first grade, I was running around at recess and came up behind Howard C.  For some strange reason, I thought it would be fun to grab Howard from behind around his neck.  So I did.  But Howard reacted quickly flipping me forward over his head and sending me sprawling headlong onto the ground.  I picked myself up as Howard smiled at his victory.  I brushed off the grass and wiped off a scraped forehead.  I wasn’t hurt to much, but I had learned a valuable lesson.  That afternoon at home, my mother wiped off my forehead and asked, “What happened to you?”  I brushed her away mumbling, “Oh, nothing.  I fell down at recess.”  Not exactly the truth, but not quite a lie.  I didn’t want to tell her that I had tangled with Howard and it was my fault.  I didn’t want to admit that I had jumped onto Howard’s back and had caused an altercation.  Hey often in life we make a miscalculation.  We make a snap decision that turns out to be a poor decision.  James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”  It’s a good idea to ask God BEFORE we make a decision.  God can give us pause to think through the consequences of our decisions BEFORE they become poor decisions … like jumping on Howard’s back.  Some poor decisions end up as a scrape on the forehead, but other poor decisions end up with terrible consequences like divorce or abortion.  Get into the habit of asking God on little decisions and you will ask Him on big decisions.  And that’s a good thing.