Before you head off into your weekend, here are three quick hitting things I have read and been thinking about. Hope they are as helpful and challenging to you as they have been for me.
Have a great weekend!
#1
Most of the decisions we make in life turn out to be right or wrong not because we were prescient, but because of the way we function after we make the decision.
A Failure of Nerve by Edwin H. Friedman
In some ways this quote takes pressure off our discernment process. But it also adds a lot of pressure to our follow through after discernment. Let’s stop trying to achieve the perfection decision. Instead, let’s double our efforts on making sure whatever direction we head has our full attention and energy and support.
#2
We like to quote verses like, “Without Me you can do nothing,” which is absolutely true. But we forget that if you do nothing, it will be without Me. And this, while not a scripture verse, is absolutely true and borne out by scripture teaching as a whole.
The Great Omission by Dallas Willard
Speaking of doing something…there is a fine line between patience and procrastination. I’ll let you know if I ever find out where it is. Or…if you know, please feel free to share with me!
#3
Forgiveness is not sentimental…. Forgiveness means abandoning your right to pay back the perpetrator in his own coin, but it is a loss that liberates the victim.
Fleming Rutledge
No one, to my knowledge, enjoys taking medicine. But without the medicine our prospects for healing grow slim. It takes a certain strength that comes from belief. Belief that the pill will do its work increases the likelihood that someone puts up with the bad taste and occasional side effects.
While I am quick to acknowledge forgiveness is not medicine, it does share some of the characteristics with it in terms of application. It takes a greater strength to forgive than to harbor bitterness. A certain belief that things will be better if we give up fairness, abandon the right for payback, and instead trust that justice will be served by the act of forgiving rather than the plague of bitterness.
todd nelson 