Friday, July 21, 2023

Five Minute Friday :: Decide

not to decide is to decide


Five Minute Friday :: Decide Linkup

"Not to decide is to decide," my illustration quotes theologian Harvey Cox. Long ago I got a copy on closeout from The Printery House of Conception Abbey Press, but it's long since gone because a flood in the apartment upstairs from mine rained down on it and I decided it wasn't in good enough condition to save. The poster's background options are simple: up, down; yes, no, maybe; stop, go; left, right; in, out.

Some decisions at first may not look long-term consequential, although the sum of tiny choices sometimes adds up long term. Related to overall health, dietary decisions and exercise-workout habits can be major. But what's this decide prompt about?

We agonize and get stuck over major decisions. What college or university to attend, and what major if our heart and abilities aren't already passionately entwined with a field of endeavor. What person to spend the rest of your life with, and if the person has been decided because of interlinked circumstances God has used to bring you together, is making a lifelong covenant now or later the wisest for all involved? Although in the past it has been a fairly easy checklist decision, these days Buy or Rent your Housing can be seriously fraught.

But this week's decide prompt really is all about those countless run of each day, micro-decisions such as banana or berries for breakfast. Sourdough or multigrain bread for my lunch sandwich. These decides lack lifelong impact, yet haven't you noticed they're the ones we often second-guess and want to do over? Of course, some of them can be redone. Berries on Wednesday if it was bananas on Tuesday…

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five minute friday decide
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4 comments:

  1. This is so good.
    Thanks for sharing.
    (Your FMF neighbor #14)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm, yes, often those big decisions are really just the culmination of little daily decisions.

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  3. Decisions now come to a point,
    not for pleasure, not to thrive,
    but to by discipline anoint
    each day that I might stay alive.
    Running's now part of my past,
    and hiking trips are also through.
    It was fun, I had a blast,
    but now all that these joys can do
    is break a leg metastasized,
    and leave me writhing in the dirt.
    Although the runner's high was prized,
    and I'm not afraid to hurt,
    there's other paradigms to be,
    other vistas left to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tried commenting but it must not have went through. I like your thought process here.

    ReplyDelete

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