Decisions

27 Oct

“Many times, the decisions we make affect and hurt your closest friends and family the most. I have a lot of regrets in that regard. But God has forgiven me, which I am very thankful for. It has enabled me to forgive myself and move forward one day at a time.”  ~ Lex Luger

There are too many times in our lives when we make decisions to do things or say things as well as not to do or say things without regard for how our decisions will affect others.  Others, you say?  Yes, others.  Our decisions are not made in a vacuum and the ramifications of those decisions do not affect ourselves only.  Our decisions affect many other people in a variety of ways.

Sometimes our decisions impact others concretely.  We may have decided to give someone something or withhold something from someone.  Sometimes, our decisions affect others in a round about way.  In giving to one person, we might have hurt the feelings of others.  Sometimes, our decisions affect others because they change the way we do things.  We may become moody based upon a decision we made and that moodiness changes the dynamic between ourselves and others.

I hope those examples make some kind of sense to you.  Maybe you already replaced my examples with decisions that you have made and the ramifications of those decisions.  Hopefully you have considered the fact that your decisions do, indeed, affect others.  So, what to do about it?

Luger sums it all up by indicating that we need to learn from what we have done, seek reconciliation when appropriate whether that be with another person or with God, and move forward.  The worst thing that could happen would be to allow our decisions to freeze us in place and prevent us from moving forward in life.  We are human, frail and fallible people, and we need to accept that so as to learn from our mistakes.

Be gentle and kind with yourself today.  Realize that your decisions affect others as well as yourself.  Do your best to impact in a positive manner everything that you do today.  Lastly, don’t be afraid to seek forgiveness for the times you wrong someone.  That helps us to heal and to move forward.

FAITH ACTION:  Reflect upon any decisions that may have hurt others and do your best to make amends.