A colleague shared something today that David Lose wrote in his blog reflecting on the gospel reading for this coming Sunday (Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43). His blog is called, “...in the Meantime” (davidlose.net) and is worth a frequent read, but this excerpt from July 14, “Pentecost 6 A: On Wheat, Weeds, and Ambiguity,” spoke to me strongly about decisions:
“...I hear in this parable Jesus’ promise that in ambiguous, challenging situations we have the promise that, in the end, God will sort things out. Which doesn’t mean everything will turn out just fine. Sometimes we don’t choose well. Sometimes things go wrong. The promise here isn’t that Christian faith prevents hardship; the promise is that we are not justified by our right choices but rather by grace through faith. And knowing we have God’s unconditional regard in spite of our poor choices frees us to live in the moment. The thing is, you see, that we don’t live in an ideal world and each week we’re faced with a myriad of challenging decisions, some small and others large, to which there is no clear answer. Some decisions we’ll get right, others wrong, and still others we won’t know whether we were right or wrong for months or years to come. But we still need to make them. And then, each week, no matter how we fared, we can come back to church on Sunday morning to be reminded that God loves us anyway and promises that, in the end, God will hold all of our choices and all of our lives together in love.”
These words may not help in making the decision when it is facing us, but it does help to know that God’s love, forgiveness, and reconciliation is there forever. And that maybe our decisions aren’t based on right or wrong, but on trust: knowing God and trusting in God’s relationship with us. Which is definitely food for thought.
Blessings.
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