I have been thinking about the power of decision making. I don’t mean business decisions, although those need to be weighed just as much, but I’m talking about every day, regular people decisions.

Will I follow the world’s ways or God’s? Will I allow myself to be depressed or rejoice in the joy God has given me? Will I go through life a victor or victim? Will I allow God to work in and through me for a far better return on my life? Will I covet my life by keeping me to me and letting no one in so that I don’t get hurt?

We have all had to, are currently or will have to make some, if not all those decisions at some point in our lives.

Wow. The power of decision. If we would just meditate on that for a moment, that decision alone would alter our lives forever.

We have to understand that God gave us the gift of decision making, and regardless if we believe it or  not, when this life is done, we will have to give a complete account of our life. Will we be able to do that?

Will we be able to say to the Almighty God that we indeed made the best possible decisions we knew to make?

Did we put down self and put others first when we made decisions? Did we take our lives and decisions and look into the unfailing Word of God? Did we seek the Lord for the direction in which to make our decisions? Did we count the cost of our decisions?

A decision. A power tool. How will you use yours?

We have all heard the nursery rhyme, Sticks and stones may break my bones…but what about decisions? Do you realize there isn’t one decision you make that doesn’t affect someone else? Think about that.

In the last week I have had four people make some bad decisions. I’m sure they thought it would only affect them, but in every situation it affected other people around them. Children, spouses, friends and even church members. Why do our decisions affect others? Because we are intricately woven into other people’s lives, if we like it or not.

Decisions affect other people. We need to think before we make decisions, especially life changing decisions. We don’t have to make all of our decisions based on other people, but it would do us good to think outside ourselves before we make some of the decisions we do. Here are a few questions to ask yourself before making decisions:

1. Who will this decision affect?
2. How will this decision affect those people?
3. Is this decision worth the hurt it may cause other people?
4. Am I willing to live with any consequences that may come from my decision?

If people would just ask question 4, it would answer questions 1-3. In some instances there may be consequences to our decisions. Is the decision worth the consequences? We can’t have the “whatever will be” attitude. Sometimes there is no time to right a wrong.

Luke 14:28 (NLT) says it the best: “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?”

Think before you decide. Count the cost. It just may save you a lifetime of heartache.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says,

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

We can all quote it, but do we live it? Do we really truly put that verse into practice in our lives? I don’t. I would like to think I do, but because I always want to help God outor I think He has more important things to do than my little wants, needs or issues. I don’t practice this verse like I should.

Shocking, isn’t it? If you were honest you would know you don’t either. None of us do. I believe it is difficult for people today to actually put that verse into practice because we can meet our own needs in one way or the other. We can figure out our paths with a click of the mouse. We can get clearer understanding with snippets off of social media. We have it all at our fingertips. Or do we?

I think we are a self-sufficient, proud people who won’t give God a chance. Why? Might He not come through? Let me tell you…He always comes through. I would stake my life on it. I wanna break this down and see how we can make this applicable to our lives.

Trust in the Lord. Not in our jobs. Not in our friends. Not in our credit cards. Not in our families and definitely not in ourselves. Trust God.

With all your heart. Not a part. Not a particular section. Not the left over that you don’t know what to do with. All means, well…all.

Lean not on your own understanding. We like to keep God in a box. We want God to stay on our schedule. Move according to our time tables. Cooperate with our plans. God doesn’t move in ways we think He does. God doesn’t work on our time schedules. He’s God. God does what He knows is best, when it’s best and what is best. It is so beyond our understanding. That’s the trust part.

In all your ways acknowledge Him. Not just when you need something. Not only when things are good, or only when things are bad. Acknowledge Him while you’re at work, washing dishes, doing laundry, getting ready for bed, and even while you’re exercising.

In all your ways…through your talents, your attitude and your life.

And He shall direct your path. Don’t know where your life is going? Don’t know why things aren’t working out? Does life seem to be handing you garbage? Does everything you touch seem to go bad? Trust. With all your heart. Lean not. Acknowledge Him. He shall direct. That’s the plan, now go conqueror the world.

I always find it interesting that I often find myself between people. One is usually right and one is usually…right. Huh? Well, they both think they are right, and then I have to find the connection to bring them together on a common ground. Ever found yourself there?

Most people, and I use to be like this, take the opportunity to create some drama. I am so over drama. I just want peace. I want everyone to be happy, love life and keep moving forward. If I can help find a solution I do, but I don’t use myself as the “go between” to keep the drama going. I am the solution finder. The bridge maker. The solid meeting ground. The in-your-face truth. Gentle, but truthful.

Why do people call you? Is it truly to find an answer or do they call you because they know you will keep the drama alive and well? I don’t get many calls these days because I don’t play that game. Life is way too short to keep the fire alive on something that is usually so ridiculous it should be in the comic strips. The few calls I do get, I know the people on the other end want an answer. A solution. And that’s what I’m called to be in people’s lives. A problem solver.

So the next time your phone rings, take a quick inventory. Are you being called to help “spread the news” or are you being called to solve the problem? The choice is yours. It’s never too late to change.

I am still amazed that people have a hard time praying. Ever have one of those moments when you ask someone to pray and they start to stammer and stutter and eventually say something to the effect they don’t have anything prepared? So I thought I’d tackle just how simple praying is.

• We don’t have to impress God with fancy prayers. There is nothing in our human nature we can do to impress God. He has roads of gold! His throne is surrounded with jewels I can’t even pronounce! What could we possibly do to impress Him? Nothing.

• Praying is talking to God. Social media has put a damper on face-to-face communication, but that is still how we communicate with God. We talk to Him. What dad doesn’t want to talk to his kids?

• God wants us to ask Him for things. He wants to bless us. He’s our dad. My favorite verse in the Bible is 1 John 5:14-16, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” That means when you pray, God hears you and will answer you.

• Prayer is time we get to spend with our heavenly Father thanking Him.

• Prayer is time we get to praise Him for His goodness and unfailing love.

• Set aside your worldly layout/outline of prayer.

• Clear your mind of what you think God expects you to say.

• Be God’s kid. Put your pride somewhere you will forget about it. Go into your dad’s room and just talk to Him. He just wants to hear from you.  Go!

Do you understand that your decisions today affect your future, regardless if you want them to or not? Take a moment and think about your life today. Your life at this very moment is the result of some decision you made, good or bad, if we like it or not.

Your life maybe great right now. Your life maybe awful right now. Take an inventory of your life. Decide what you are going to do about it. If you are on the right path, are you determined to stay the path? If you are on the wrong path, are you willing to make the decisions necessary to get on the right path?

Decisions are what shaped yesterday, is shaping today and will shape tomorrow. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says in the New Living Translation, ^“Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop.” Please note this verse doesn’t say if this is a good or bad crop but it does say you will get a crop, regardless of what you plant. You decide what the crop is and how small or big it is.

If I take one sunflower seed and plant it, I will get one sunflower. If I take a handful of dandelion seeds and plant them, I will get lots of dandelions. I planted one sunflower seed and got one sunflower. I planted many dandelion seeds and got lots of weeds. But I could sow, (or plant) either one, a few or a lot, and the choice I make will depend on what comes up and how much. The same with your decisions.

If you choose to plant a lot of bad decisions you will get bad results. But, the good news is that if you plant good decisions, you will get good results. So what can you do today? What will you do today? Remember that your future depends on your now. The decisions you make today will affect your tomorrow if you want them to or not. The choice is up to you.

For those of you who don’t own a bird, it is high nesting time. Regardless if you have a female or male, it is nesting time and that means…feathers. Feathers everywhere. As I was cleaning up my bird’s feathers (again) I got a revelation. God gave birds feathers for the winter so that they can stay warm during those long cold months. Then in the spring, those winter feathers get shed, but not for waste. For nesting!

It is moments like this that I am in total awe of God. He thinks down to the smallest detail and that includes our lives. As our pastor once asked, “We trust God with our eternal salvation, and we can’t trust Him with life’s smallest details?” I think as humans we believe those small things are not important to God…and oh how wrong we are. My bird doesn’t worry all winter what he is going to do with all those extra feathers come the long hot months. He knows he is going to shed them and attempt to make a nest. That’s just how God made him.

As the Scriptures say in Matthew 6:26 & 33,

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” and, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

We would do well to take a lesson from the birds and not get our feathers ruffled.