When I first started my career in education there was an interactive role-playing simulation I used in my classroom called “Decisions, decisions” created by Tom Snyder. In one of the games, you were the mayor of a town and you had to make decisions as certain critical points came up in the simulation. We would debate the options as a class and then vote to see what decision we would make. Then, much like its predecessor in book form the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series, you would see the consequences of your decisions.

I always enjoyed facilitating these simulations not so much for what path it would lead to–since it was a created simulation there were only so many options–but rather to hear how the students got to a decision. It was good to hear how they would come to a decision and then debate it with the class.

Unlike a computer simulation game that only leaves you with a few options, life gives us with hundreds of decisions we have to make every day. Some are obviously bigger than others, but all decisions lead us to who we are as a person today. I sometimes find myself trying to justify every decision I make as I go through my day.

I want to do God’s will for my life and I oftentimes almost get “paralysis by analysis” because I think too hard about what God would want me to do with a certain decision. The older I get, I am starting to realize that God’s will for my life isn’t necessarily that I work in a certain place or live in a certain place.

I think God’s will is for me to love Him and love others. Everything else is secondary. I find myself often spending more time on figuring out what that means to me in my life and in my time rather than just accepting and living out what He has already told me in Scripture.

Our challenge this week is to simplify our lives and just focus this week on 1. Loving God and 2. Loving others.

As we enter the holiday season, wouldn’t it be great if we could simplify our lives by making a decision to accept what God has told us about His will for our lives?

More to come…
Jeremy