Decisions

DECISIONS, DECISIONS, DECISIONS...

Soon after, just a few days after, God separated the Light from the Darkness, he told ‘Man’ to Decide whether he wanted to live in Light or Darkness - they could decide. He soon created ‘woman’ and told Adam to Decide what to ‘call’ her and how to treat her - Decision time. He planted a special tree and invited them to Decide whether to eat its fruit. Multiply and replenish? Decide! Hard work or Stay in the Garden? Decide! From the beginning we were created to be Decision Makers. But not ‘just’ any old decision makers, but Decisions that demanded that we begin to exercise the major difference between our decisions and the decision made by our animal friends - Decisions ‘caused’ by THINKING - and, if that wasn’t enough, then we were challenged to learn to THINK like God – and then DECIDE.

Thinking ‘before’ we Decide – but also knowing that we ‘HAVE’ to choose - is the exercise that sent us to a Telestial world rather than remain in a Celestial environment. In our prior home we had choice, but little opposition to the choice, and without developing the Decision Making and Thinking combination in the middle of enticing opposition we would never become like our Father and Brother. Therefore He gave us Commandments and then said, “Think and Decide”! Each of the Commandments, if decisively lived, has a promised blessing or reward. The blessing is the acquiring of an Attribute of Christ. As we develop the Attributes of the Savior, his value system becomes our value system. Possessing each of the Attributes of the Savior is therefore a direct result of Thinking about what one wants to become and then consciously deciding to obey a commandment long enough for the promised blessing to become a permanent part of his or her character.

Thankfully Repentance is also a Decision. The Decision to Repent can be made at any time while we are still taking in Oxygen. But, the decision to procrastinate the day of our repentance is a bad decision and one that is usually made because of poor Thinking.

Leaders are by definition ones who make Decisions and usually make them rapidly. ‘Great’ Leaders make their decisions – usually quickly and often automatically – but never without thinking. Super Leaders – leaders who are value based and driven by those values - have trained themselves to Lead without hesitation by constantly gathering information, pondering and thinking and then at those moments when the difference in battle will be determined by a ‘decision’ they make them with confidence and others follow.

People with a Christ-like value system make Great Decisions and those Great Decisions make Great Leaders and Great Leaders ‘Cause’ Great Things to happen.

When Michelangelo was commissioned to sculpture David, he was anxious to capture the supreme moment in David’s life. The common thought, in that day, was that the greatest moment in his life was when he had proven himself in battle against the frightening Goliath. Most paintings and sculptures tried to capture this incredible moment of triumph. But, after two years of pondering Michelangelo believed that David’s greatest moment was not the killing of the giant but rather the moment he DECIDED to kill Goliath.

The ability to make a decision and then stick with it seems to be a character trait that separates the greats from the rest of the pack. Many go through the motions of decision making but more often they are not packed with resolve or certainly, but usually reflect a wish or ‘hoped for’ results rather than driven with the passion and confidence that generates action. Great leaders are decision makers. They make tough decisions and then put their heart and soul into the accomplishment of whatever was intended – and even if the decision proved to be a bad one - no one mistakes the belief the leader had in the idea or the direction he intended to take them.

Nelson Mandela stands as a model of a Leader who made a real difference in the future of his people because of his ability to make tough Decisions.

Robert E. Lee ‘lost’ the war, but few evaluate his character or leadership by the final ‘score’ but rather by the game he played and the decisions he made. He was the only General in the history of major warfare who was asked to lead the armies of both sides of the conflict. Both sides recognized him as a leader - a man who could – and would make decisions – even the very tough ones. The decision to go against the Nation he loved and the one he had sworn to defend has to be one of the most momentous and difficult decisions any General ever had to make. To decide Conscience over Loyalty to Country was a decision few leaders have faced – especially when they knew that either decision would spell the fate of thousands of lives. He made a decision to follow conscience. Even in defeat he was so respected for his leadership strength and character that he was treated as a hero and a winner. That Decision by another great leader – General Grant - has proven, over time to be another great military decision.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the decision maker for D-Day 1944. An observer shares the tension that permeated the room when this momentous decision was made. He recalls, “the weather was questionable...a wrong decision condemned literally hundreds of thousands to their deaths...there was silence which lasted for a full five minutes while General Eisenhower sat and pondered the most momentous decision of the war. I never realized before the loneliness and isolation of a Commander at a time when such a decision has to be taken, with full knowledge of the consequences... Finally he looked up and the tension was gone...He said briskly, ‘We’ll go.’”

Michelangelo, David, General Lee and General Eisenhower all are examples of Decision Makers - people who made Decisions that made a significant impact on history. Their decisions affected lives. Their decisions however, were decisions that primarily had direct impact on life and death- mortality - and not on eternal lives. Each of us today – especially our youth, missionaries and young parents - make decisions, or fail to make decisions, that have longer term impact on our lives and the lives of others than any General or slayer of Goliath.

Missionaries have to ‘decide’ to go on a mission, to obey the basic rules, to work hard, to ‘stand-up’ when fear often acts like glue to their seats, to become proactive, to ‘begin with the end in mind’, to put 1st things 1st, to be bold, and to endure with nobility to the very last day of their mission.

Youth have to ‘decide’ to prepare for missions, to remain morally worthy to go on missions and to the temple and to remember who they are when the whole world is telling them to ‘eat, drink and be merry’ and there is time tomorrow to repent.

Parents have to ‘decide’ to conduct Daily Scripture Study, family prayer, family home evening, honor the Sabbath Day and live in such a way that they can keep their family progressing toward the mission field, the temple and exaltation.

The decision to serve a mission or to live the word of wisdom or to remain morally clean may well be a bigger decision – and one that will eternally impact more lives - than the decision to land Allied troops on Normandy or to slay Goliath. One wrong decision or one crossroad that we come to and stall for the lack of a decision could well spell doom over a single life who was destined to have a posterity as numerous as the ‘sands of the seashore’ and because of that decision - or lack of decision – that promised numerous progeny may either come to naught or be adopted into another family – a family lead by one who learned from Father Adam that Great Moral Leaders are the product of Great Moral Decision Makers.
Decision Time: It’s time to learn how to DECIDE and then DO IT!