“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature which is in harmony with God, with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.”
C.S. Lewis
Making choices is challenging, especially in our complex world. We are inundated with information while called to make decisions affecting ourselves, our families, and our world. Sometimes it feels a bit much, like we’re constantly sorting through the mega-menu at the Cheesecake Factory when we’re unsure what we want and have to be at an appointment in half an hour.
To help with the decision making process we sometimes embrace rules of thumb to help us navigate the shoals. I for one have a grab bag of premeditated attitudes and responses ranging from “do the right thing” to “whatever,” yo-yoing from altruism to expediency as the situation dictates. Many times I just react and have little sense of the whys and wherefores of what I decide.
But I want to. If Lewis is right in emphasizing the importance of choices on the outcome of our characters and destiny (and I think he is), then leaving our decisions to the whims of the moment just doesn’t cut it. A life well-lived needs discernment with decisions no matter the complexity, but complexity and choice-making are often at odds.
Is there a way to make decision-making both easier and deeper? Is there a way to pare down this process, a way to insert our wisest worldview into our daily decisions without being overwhelmed? Is there a simple but not simplistic mantra to use to keep us focused in an unclear world?
Yes. And it’s Yes. What is Yes? I think we all know. We can read that it is an assent, an attitude “used to give an affirmative response” (Webster’s), but we instinctively know it when we nod, smile, and do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. We know it when life knocks on our door and our Yes opens it up to let our best selves in.
We’re not talking naivete here, or sticking our head in the sand, or some vacuous positive thinking. We’re talking facing a squishy discussion with our mates when we’d rather not or listening a little longer at work when we’re bored and tired. We’re talking embracing life on life’s terms and not letting it go until it blesses us and those around us.
We know No is always lurking behind the scenes, sitting in our shadows, ready to exert its will. God knows we succumb to its temptations early and often. But we also know that for every No that derails us, every Yes puts us back on track. We know it’s never too late in a day or a life to get back to it. We can be like the criminal next to Jesus on the cross who waited for the last possible moment to say Yes to God and is now living that Yes into eternity.
So let’s do ourselves and the people around us a favor by saying Yes to life and death and truth and love over fear. Yes to the values we all share. And even Yes to no, when no (to addictions and pettiness and cynicism) leads to more Yes’s.
Heaven or hell awaits us every day. Let’s decide to nod, smile, and make the former a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“You dare your Yes --and experience a meaning.
You repeat your Yes--and all things acquire a meaning.
When everything has a meaning, how can you live anything but a Yes?”
Dag Hammarskold
C.S. Lewis
Making choices is challenging, especially in our complex world. We are inundated with information while called to make decisions affecting ourselves, our families, and our world. Sometimes it feels a bit much, like we’re constantly sorting through the mega-menu at the Cheesecake Factory when we’re unsure what we want and have to be at an appointment in half an hour.
To help with the decision making process we sometimes embrace rules of thumb to help us navigate the shoals. I for one have a grab bag of premeditated attitudes and responses ranging from “do the right thing” to “whatever,” yo-yoing from altruism to expediency as the situation dictates. Many times I just react and have little sense of the whys and wherefores of what I decide.
But I want to. If Lewis is right in emphasizing the importance of choices on the outcome of our characters and destiny (and I think he is), then leaving our decisions to the whims of the moment just doesn’t cut it. A life well-lived needs discernment with decisions no matter the complexity, but complexity and choice-making are often at odds.
Is there a way to make decision-making both easier and deeper? Is there a way to pare down this process, a way to insert our wisest worldview into our daily decisions without being overwhelmed? Is there a simple but not simplistic mantra to use to keep us focused in an unclear world?
Yes. And it’s Yes. What is Yes? I think we all know. We can read that it is an assent, an attitude “used to give an affirmative response” (Webster’s), but we instinctively know it when we nod, smile, and do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. We know it when life knocks on our door and our Yes opens it up to let our best selves in.
We’re not talking naivete here, or sticking our head in the sand, or some vacuous positive thinking. We’re talking facing a squishy discussion with our mates when we’d rather not or listening a little longer at work when we’re bored and tired. We’re talking embracing life on life’s terms and not letting it go until it blesses us and those around us.
We know No is always lurking behind the scenes, sitting in our shadows, ready to exert its will. God knows we succumb to its temptations early and often. But we also know that for every No that derails us, every Yes puts us back on track. We know it’s never too late in a day or a life to get back to it. We can be like the criminal next to Jesus on the cross who waited for the last possible moment to say Yes to God and is now living that Yes into eternity.
So let’s do ourselves and the people around us a favor by saying Yes to life and death and truth and love over fear. Yes to the values we all share. And even Yes to no, when no (to addictions and pettiness and cynicism) leads to more Yes’s.
Heaven or hell awaits us every day. Let’s decide to nod, smile, and make the former a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“You dare your Yes --and experience a meaning.
You repeat your Yes--and all things acquire a meaning.
When everything has a meaning, how can you live anything but a Yes?”
Dag Hammarskold
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