By Nick Blaylock–
Within the Christian heritage, there is a common anxiety about right and wrong, specifically in relation to decision-making. Being that decisions are ever-present, this anxiety can range from a hummed low of insecurity to a life lived from worry to worry.
If I see God as that which is good and brings life, and if I see God as the ground of our being, and therefore, the truest essence of our being, then I cannot imagine our lives, lived at their fullest potential, would involve a lot of anxiety.
None of this is about being right or wrong. Life is not that simple. There is not one right way to do something and all the others are wrong. However, there is healthy, productive, life-bringing activity. And there, as well, is destructive and unhealthy activity. I believe these are the black and whites we are given, life and death, productive and destructive, giving and stealing, etcetera.
In the first writings about a relationship with this idea of the Divine (Genesis 1:28 & 31), God said of all creation (including us) that it was very good. Then God invited us to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. In other words, Hey, the home-base of it all is goodness, go spread that, and never stop; with that great work is caring for the world around you.
Side note: God’s first words to us were not I love you, because if you are life and just gave birth out of pure goodness and the only thing driving all of this is love then there is not much need to say it explicitly, being loved is kind of assumed.
I know some might say, “But, after ‘the fall’, what is deepest in us was no longer pure.” Well, King David said in Psalm 8 that we are still part of that great work, so lack of ability and responsibility is a hard argument. And this was before there was any talk of a sacrifice needing to be made in order for us to make any healthy impact in the world. (This is also why goodness can come from someone who does not believe in the message of Jesus, there is beauty at the base of it all, regardless if they accept someone’s sacrifice for them.)
Back to God’s first invitation… This is the clearest God has ever been about the Divine will, and from such a starting place of good news! What healthy, beautiful, creative, inspiring work can be done if your one unchangeable initiative were to be fostering the goodness that is already within and doing all you can to help it grow.
Back, back to everyday decision-making… Most often, God does not care what you choose, as long as it serves the true Center, the light within us all (nod to John Philip Newell). This does not mean decisions do not matter, it just means God really does want us to have choice in our own lives. One can have two separate decisions that both bring life and peace but have separate effects for the one choosing and the world around them. Because God cares about our individualities and preferences, God turns to us to let us decide which set of circumstances will inspire us more.
There are good and bad consequences to every decision you will ever make. This is the same reason you cannot be friends with everyone on the planet. The minute you choose one person to invest time, are you not walking away from everyone else? But, we choose those who call the most life from us.
Notice what I am not saying: It is all up to you, whatever you want to do with your life, do it. Do whatever makes you happy. Do you. Whatever feels good is right. Whatever makes you happy.
Rather, let’s start from a place of: What can I do that will include me in the spreading goodness that is already taking place? What can I do here that will most serve the world (including me)?
We do not ignore the self, but also do not act as if we are the center. Interdependence. The world can move on without our activity but it will be a more realized version of itself if we choose to participate and let ourselves be moved.
Asking God or praying about a big decision… This makes God sound like a super-being in the sky with all the answers ready to dispense them to those who will just admit He is omniscient and we know nothing. We are down here in the fates of the flesh, and He is somewhere else with all the goodness to Himself.
What if we walked with God daily? By this I mean acknowledging that the greatest reality of life and love are deep within ourselves and the world around us, and what is most helpful is taking a deep look into the world within and without us for the new life that is being called forth, because it always is regardless if we answer it or not. In this sense, prayer is a deep self-reflection (self-self and world-self), to connect with the flow of life that undergirds it all.
If we are living under this reality, there is no such thing as a decision without asking God. Did you ask God? As if God wasn’t there in the happening. God was how I experienced this situation. If our view of God is all life and if we see everything as undergirded by life, then every time we are brought to a decision, we innately ask ourselves, where is the life here and how to I participate?
This is not taking significance and wonder and power and reverence from God. In fact, it brings the greatest reverence and gratitude for the vastness and depth and wonder and beauty and complexity and inclusivity that is God.
What!? YOU, this huge reality of life, found in the young, the old, the earth, the sky; YOU have created everything that has ever been out of love, and the whole thing is moving towards beauty, peace, and fulfillment. And I get to be an active participant in the whole thing!? Me!? What!?
Sounds familiar… O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8, NIV)
