Monday, April 18, 2011

Choices: Making Right Decisions in a Complex World

I just finished reading a book with the same title by Lewis B. Smedes who was the professor of philosophy and integrations at the Fuller Graduate School of Theology. The chapter titles give themes of the book, but I will leave that up to you to research those titles.

The one chapter that speaks to me most today has this title: "When you can't be sure, be responsible". In this chapter he mentions rules from another ethicist, H. Richard Niebuhr, who stressed that responsible people are able to: (1) initiate action; (2) make a genuine response to the situation that they are in; and, (3) account for their actions.

In this work Lewis Smedes invites us to become discerning by seeing 'little, yet significant', things in life by taking our time in decision-making until we catch the insight that is being taught by experience. Such discernment "... takes practice, it doesn't come easy. It is a gift, and like all personal gifts it comes only with exercise. It is not a gut reaction; it comes with using our eyes, our ears, our minds, our imagination, our empathy and, yes, our intuition" (p. 97).

Good decisions indeed are made when enough time has been given for the decision-making process. Slow down, take a deep breath, get advice, and ponder. The world we live in does not allow us the time to do so but such is required for the best of all.

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