Doing what you know

A one-time Christian comedian from years gone by said that if he took time to do all the “do’s” in the Bible he would be so busy that there would not be enough time to worry over the “don’ts” people get hung up on. There is a lot of truth in that. Just doing what I know I must be doing is often overwhelming, let alone add to that what I should be doing also and life can get complicated and crowded. Another way to voice the thought is that concentrating on the do’s brings peaceful busyness to life while concentrating on avoiding the don’ts brings confusion and oftentimes, bondage.
Right now I feel fairly certain of what I must do. It is the tiny bit of uncertainty that is making the decision awkward and troubling. I like to feel at least moderately certain of the outcome of my decisions, but this is one of those times when there is literally no way to know what God is willing to do if I will simply obey and leave the rest up to Him.
I realize that my life has a broad reach. Every decision I make affects the lives of many others.
There will be some lives affected of which I will never be aware; however it is the affect on the obvious ones that has me moving steadily, cautiously forward. My days of reckless abandon in heeding the call of God are long past. At times I miss them. I miss watching God pick up the pieces of my mistaken attempts to follow His leading and miraculously arrange them to His Glory - and for my good.
Even if it were only my children watching me, it would be reason enough to get it right: to prayerfully, carefully consider my decision and its affects on the lives of others. But there is a point at which all human reasoning must be set aside and the walk of faith begun. Honestly, I am not at that point yet, but I can see it clearly, close ahead of me.
Chase will be waking up in Costa Rica in the morning. Mama will be waking up close to our granddaughter. It is mornings like that that make memories for a lifetime. Maybe soon it will be my turn to have mornings like those.