Decisions

Game of Thrones, a television show which has dominated contemporary culture for the last eight years, is drawing to its close. I am standing on the sidelines, reading all the reviews but not watching it, and not a little wistful. I decided to stop watching it during an early series, wary of the effects of the show’s visceral elements on my emotions. I then missed out on some of the most wonderful storytelling of the last decade. What’s worth noting is not whether the decision was right, or that a small decision had consequences a few years later, but that the decision arose out of two competing motivations: the protection of my wellbeing against the desire to watch stories of people living at the full stretch of love, desire, revenge and courage. Both desires were lifegiving.

Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.” At Easter, we receive a life which has not been constrained by suffering and death, which is given to us in abundance to live out in our own lives. However, in the days following Easter, many of us may look at the mundane reality and find this abundance difficult to discern, and in any case, what more is required of us than we do justly and walk humbly with our God?

When making decisions in the course of our daily lives our question most often is, “Is this a good idea? Is it wise?”, but perhaps a more transformative starting point would be, “Will this lead to life?”
The creation stories in the Old Testament are not limited to Genesis. Creation is also present in the book of Job and in the Book of Proverbs. Chapter 8 tells of the birth of Wisdom, created by the Lord as “the first of his acts”, who was “beside him, like a master worker…..rejoicing in his inhabited world.” Wisdom and creation are inseparable: life without wisdom leads to misery, but wisdom without life is nothing.

Alice Willington