Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

What is right?  What is good?  For me, I have always tried to not allow others actions to influence my resolve to do what is right.  So many times I see people (including myself from time to time) who choose to react to other people’s actions toward them.  I can’t say that this isn’t human nature, or even a basic law of physics, but is it right?

If I have a standard of living, then that standard is mine.  I chose it.  Standard is a funny word, in that it has two meanings.  The first came about in the 12^th century, which connected the words ‘stand’ and ‘hard,’ which literally means to stand fast or firm*.  This is where we get the term standard as it used today to describe a moral or ethical boundary.  I love this meaning, because it speaks to the nature of what standards should be in our lives.  They are boundaries that we are to set and hold fast to, no matter what comes our way.  I have a favorite saying that I coined during a particularly stressful time: “The sensible decision has already been made.  Anything outside of that decision is just insensible.” 

            I don’t mean that you can never change your mind, or that you can’t replace decisions you’ve made with better ones.  But, what I am saying is that if you have set in your heart a boundary or a standard while you were unemotional about the said topic, it is insensible to change it due to your circumstances only.  A standard is something you are to hold fast to.  The picture that is associated with this word, is a pole which has its foundation in the ground, set and secure.  The sole purpose of this pole is to signify that the position it is placed in is a rallying point for military forces.  When we stand firm in our decisions and chose not to be swayed by winds blowing us to and fro, we serve as a beacon, a rallying point for others to look to.

            I was recently reading the Bible and the Lord placed something upon my heart.  I was reading in Revelation (this shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone  who attends Connections Church), specifically the letter to the church of Smyrna.  The Lord really started to show me that we, myself included, associate ‘doing the right thing’ with discomfort or cost.  Now, I am by no means saying that doing the right thing won’t cost, but perhaps I may paint it in a different picture for you.

            A man goes to the doctor complaining of a lump he has noticed on his abdomen along with other miscellaneous symptoms such as weight and hair loss.  The doctor biopsies the lump and when the results come back, they find the tumor to be malignant.  The doctor then offers the patient the proposed treatment saying, “We will have to operate on this immediately.  You’ll have to go under the knife, but I am confident that we can remove the entire thing.  But the sooner we do this, the better as the cancer is rerouting all of your nutrients from your body to the tumor, and the symptoms are just going to get worse.”             Most of us would probably take a day or two to process, alert loved ones, etc., but I am willing to bet that few of us would actually decline the doctor’s purposed treatment and hope the tumor goes away on its own.

            This picture so accurately describes what happens when we are at a crossroads, deciding whether to do what is right or wrong.  We’ve been presented with the facts and the ‘treatment’ and it is now up to us to make the call.  We can either choose to be operated on and remove the tumor from our lives so that things can be restored and placed back in working order, or, we can continue on, knowing the tumor is there and pretending like it’s not devastating our lives, killing us slowly.

            You see, the pain and the discomfort, and all of the other things we associate with doing the right thing, really should be associated with doing the wrong thing.  Sure, the operation, the knife, the anesthesia, etc., are all unpleasant processes, but in comparison to a tumor that is swallowing you whole, the pain is minute.  But we forget about that most of the time.  We focus on the pain of the knife and forget about the pain of dieing, and that is enough, most of the time, to divert us from getting the operation, from removing the tumor.

            Right is right is right.  Right may not be for you what it is for me and vice versa, but the right thing is right.  We all make mistakes and occasionally knowingly walk around with tumors, but I believe that if you are seeking to do what is right (and I mean really seeking), the fear of the knife dulls and you will give up the tumor freely.  Once you do, you become a beacon or a rallying point for all others who have not mustered the courage to face the knife.  You somehow stand apart from those who are riddled with cancer and stand for what they can choose to have also…what is right.

             Don’t allow the circumstances in your life to change you.  You are the person who sets the standards, and you are the person who is responsible for keeping them firmly in the ground.  All others will have to deal with their own tumors at their own time; so don’t let their symptoms effect you dealing with yours.  Choose today who you are and what you stand for, and let that beacon be a rallying point for others and ultimately, yourself.

*http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=standard&searchmode=none