Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…

Should I stay or should I go now? -Mick Jones, “The Clash”

When you come to a fork in the road, take it. - Yogi Berra

Chao-chou teaching the assembly said: The Great Way is not difficult. Just avoid picking and choosing. As soon as words are spoken, this is picking and choosing. This is clarity. This old fellow does not abide within clarity. Do you still hang onto anything, or not?

Blue Cliff Record, #2

A man has a hundred sheep and one of them went astray and he leaves the ninety-nine on the mountain and goes out to seek the one until he has found it. -Parable of Jesus as rendered by Bernard Brandon Scott, in “Hear Then the Parable: a commentary on the parables of Jesus,” Fortress Press, 1989

Life is all about making choices. I’ll take the pizza, but hold the anchovies and O, could you put jalapenos on that. You are making choices all the time. Most often you want to make the best decision. You know what I mean – You really believe that the pizza will be better without the anchovies and with the jalapenos. So, you are constantly making decisions as you try to make your life the very best life it can be. Making decisions can be difficult. They confront us every moment of every day: what to eat, what to wear, whether or not to call him, should I stay with her? do I want to go to the movies or just stay home? “Decisions, decisions,” we say to ourselves, “decisions, decisions.” What do we do when we are not clear about which decision to make, how do we choose? Jesus has a parable to share with us.

A man has a hundred sheep and one of them went astray and he leaves the ninety-nine on the mountain and goes out to seek the one until he has found it. [i]

This man in the parable has a tremendous choice to make. He has just counted his sheep and he has only ninety-nine where he should have one hundred. One of the sheep is lost. What does he do, leave the ninety-nine alone while he searches for the one? They could all scatter and he might lose many more.” Does he seek the one? And risk the losing the 99? If he finds it, he might have all one hundred. See his dilemma? Should he stay or should he go? If he stays there will be trouble. If he goes it could be double. It is impossible to know what is best. Stay, go, stay go, stay, go. When I was a child we had a way to deal with this sort of dilemma about what to choose, we used rhyme:

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,

Catch a tiger by the toe

If he hollers let him go,

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe

Or we'd draw straws. Rock, Scissors, Paper. Or, or, or…. How do you choose? How to decide?

Usually I make my decision trying to project into the future. I have all my accumulated experience, my prejudices and preconceptions concerning my dilemma. I come with a belief that there is a “best” decision to be made, that if I parse the situation carefully enough I will simply come to some clarity about what to do. What I have noticed is that this way of making decisions only gets more confusing: more forks in the road present themselves and what was a simple decision about what to wear, or where to go becomes paralyzingly more complicated. Far better to follow Yogi Berra’s advice: When you come to a fork in the road, take it. Or Zhouzhou, “The great way is not difficult. Simply avoid picking and choosing. When words are spoken, this is picking and choosing. This is clarity. I do not dwell in clarity.

Like all parables that Jesus told, the parable of the Shepherd and the Sheep points to the kingdom of God wherein God is all and in all. In the parable an impossible dilemma is set up: rescue the one and leave the 99, or stay with the 99 and forsake the one? Our conscious thoughts cannot help us at this point. There will always be pros and cons that will, in one way or another, even out. Statistics cannot help us. Jesus’ parabolic world presents a far more intriguing possibility: faced with uncertainty, as our knowing is taken away from us, we can act, we can move with circumstances. Like a soccer player on the field, we move, never giving a thought to our actions. We connect with the ball and the game continues.

As we move through our lives without expectations, preconceptions and prejudice – without a thought for tomorrow -- we are surprised for today, for each moment as it comes to us. What a gift! The world is alive and present to us. We find joy in living.Yesterday I spent the day in Golden Gate Park with people I love. What was beautiful about it is that we just meandered all day long. No decisions were pondered, suffered over and made. It is more like our choices came to us. We stumbled upon one trail and wandered through the primeval forest. We followed the sidewalk and happened upon a saxophone player in one of the tunnels. We came upon the De Young Museum, spending time in the sculpture garden, then the observation tower. Then we were off to the Haight for coffee.

Today the shepherd rescues the one. Tomorrow she might stay with the 99. To live is to decide, to meet circumstances, to meet our lives. The Kingdom of God is our host, each moment offering us our lives. As we are present in our living we make our choices beyond our ability to discern any outcome, to know. Life is uncertain. The interesting move we might make is to trust this uncertainty as we step into tomorrow. Life will come to us in the circumstances of our lives. In the Christian tradition this is “Providence.” And you have an experience of this: take a breath – you are alive. Now take another. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. I don’t even know what I’ll have for lunch. But, I am learning to trust the Host of my life, the background against which all is found – the Kingdom of God.

Today, what decisions are you facing?

Quickly now, before thinking about it, do something!

If you come to a fork in the road, take it.

_____________

[i] Scott, Brandon. Hear Then the Parable: a commentary on the Parables of Jesus. Fortress, 1989. See pages 405 to 417 for Scott’s rationale for this rendering of the parable as it may have actually been used by Jesus.