'Hard Decisions'
I Was Thinking…
How difficult it is to make ‘hard decisions’. After all they are called ‘hard decisions’ for a reason. They are not ‘easy decisions’. I suppose most anyone can make ‘easy decisions’. ‘Easy decisions’ are comfortable and popular. ‘Hard decisions’, on the other hand, are uncomfortable and for someone or some group unpopular. But it is in the ‘hard decisions’ that life is often moved to a better and healthier place. For those who are courageous and healthy enough to make the ‘hard decisions’ there is quite often the reward of being a ‘change agent’ for good.
At the core of my being I can be described as a ‘people pleaser’ which makes it very hard at times to make ‘hard decisions’. Yet I am learning that if I’m willing to prayerfully think through ‘hard decisions’ and be courageous enough to make the ‘hard decision’ that this can be where the greatest sense of God’s presence is discovered. I wonder why God’s presence is discovered in the midst of ‘hard decisions’?
I think the answer to my question is found in this week we refer to as “Holy Week”. It is a week full of ‘hard decisions’. Jesus returns to a city where there were rumors of those seeking to destroy him…hard decision. Jesus says to Judas, “Go do what you must do”…hard decision. Jesus doesn’t defend himself against Pilate…hard decision. Jesus hangs on a cross…hard decision. Jesus gives up his Spirit and dies, “It is finished”…hard decision.
Aren’t we glad that Jesus was courageous enough to make the ‘hard decisions’? Aren’t we glad that Jesus was much more that a ‘people pleaser’? And for the clergy, laity and churches that are willing to make the ‘hard decisions’…we are the ones who experience the presence of God as God forms us through the ‘hard decision(s)’ into change agents for God’s kingdom on earth. It is then we discover Paul’s words to the Romans to be true for us “If that same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us, it will raise us from the dead also.”
‘Hard decisions’ are hard but they are necessary if we are to move through Holy Week to Easter Sunday. This week is uncomfortable and not easy but as we move through it, we find hope and resurrection in very real and practical ways. Let’s help each other make ‘hard decisions’. It is up to us to be courageous enough to be change agents. The world needs to know the one who made the ‘hardest of decisions’ for all of us.
Always Thinking…
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