Until the Next Step Shows Itself

Always when we are faced with decisions, we wish that we could see the end from the beginning: As between two jobs, for example, both of which have something to be said for them, it would be reassuring if we knew for a certainty which it would be best to take.

But sometimes decisions are much more important than a choice between jobs. Some decisions involve such vital matters as a choice in marriage or something else that would change the course of a whole career⎯a whole life⎯a whole eternity.

Sometimes we are confronted with decisions that involve clear-cut matters of right or wrong, in which case there cannot be (or should not be) any serious questions as to which way.

But some decisions are not so clear-cut. And yet so much sometimes seems to hang on small choices: Which road to take of several that are offered? (And if we have an accident going one way, then we may blame ourselves for not going another.)

Which course to take at school? Which profession to follow? If we could only see! If we could only know!

But if we should do nothing until we could certainly foresee the future, if we should start no project or make no plan until, in detail, we could see its certain end, we could let life waste away in indecision.

Some things we cannot now know in fullness and finality. And when we are faced with such decisions, often the best we can do is to base our choices on sound principles and proceed a step at a time with faith in the future. Often we have to take the first sound step we can see and work it out from there and not let life waste away in waiting to see the ultimate end.

We might find that the end product is not precisely as we had planned. (There are by-products in every process.) But if we commit ourselves solidly and prayerfully to the pursuit of sound principles and use the best of what we know to the best of our ability, we can then proceed with faith, until the next step shows itself.