A Fork in the Road

As I mentioned, I am going to do a few series during the summer months. This week, my posts will reflect my thoughts from the West Virginia Annual Conference, held the second week of June.

The guest preacher for annual conference was Bishop L. Johathon Holston, the resident bishop of South Carolina.  In one of his sermons, Bishop Holston quoted Yogi Berra (I think), who said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." You've probably heard that before; I had, and so had many in the congregation, but we stilled laughed. It seems like a nonsense phrase.

As I thought about it though, I considered what we do when faced with a decision. Sometimes we jump to a choice quickly, and move on. Other times we ponder for a while, and make deliberate, slow choice. The third option, though, is what I thought about. Sometimes we come to a fork in the road, and we do nothing. We don't take it - we don't go either way. Why is that?

Are we afraid of making a mistake? Do we stand frozen because we can't see around the bend? we don't know which way is the right choice, so we choose nothing? 

Do we know which way we should go, and yet don't want to go that way, so we don't go either way?

Are we so caught up in the details of everyday life, that we can't be bothered to make a decision?

Not taking the fork IS a decision. Those looking at us can draw conclusions from our lack of action. It might be the wrong conclusion, but they will draw them. They might think that our lack of a decision indicates our agreement with the status quo. They might think we just don't care where the road goes. They might use our inaction as an example, and then do nothing at their road forks, too.

When you come to a fork in the road, make a deliberate decision. Take it or not, but decide.

Note about the image: This is a card I made - you can read about it here.