Decisions at the Carnival

   I have had some pretty crazy dreams during my life. One that I can remember really well took place at a carnival. There were two types of game booths. One booth you would play the game and get candy no matter what. At the other booth you would play for tickets, which meant that you would not always win. And, you could win a lot of tickets or none.

   In my dream I walked around the carnival many times. I was trying to decide if I should go for the sure thing and get candy, or if I should go for the risky thing where I might not be rewarded. It seemed like the better prizes were ones you had to get with tickets. But that meant I had to figure out which booth I would excel at so I could get as many tickets as possible.

   I walked and walked around the carnival trying to make a decision but I never did make a decision. I woke up from this dream wondering why exactly I had this dream. Then, after thinking about it I realized this dream relates a lot to life.

   Many times we are faced with decisions in life where we can choose right or wrong, left or right, easy or hard, etc. Many times, when faced with a tough decision, we choose either the easy way or the third option: we do not make a decision at all.

   In my dream I did not make a decision because I took too long to think about it. I could have taken the easy way but I knew that I could do better than that. However, a part of me still wanted to take the easy way.

   This is just like our Christian walk. We can choose to take the easy way, but a part of us will always say “is that the right choice?” An example would be if you have friends who are gossiping about someone else. You could take the easy way and just stand there, or even join in. The other option is you could take the hard way and ask them to stop or walk away. But, in the time it takes to make that decision someone’s feelings could have already been hurt.

   As Christians we know the truth. We know what is right and what is wrong. We just need to choose to do the right thing right away. I know that is difficult but if you do not make that decision in time you may just end up with no prizes when you are at the carnival ;)

   So, do you take the easy way when you know it isn’t right? Do you take forever to choose to do the right thing? What can you do in order to make the right choice quicker?

   James 4:7, James 1:5, Matthew 7:13-14