While doing some research today, I came across this table on making decisions. It’s funny how God seems to send me these things when I have questions. Okay, okay, I know he doesn’t directly send these things to me or does he?
Often when we are making decisions we want to know what God wants us to do. Sometimes we can get confused and worried. Apart from ‘listening to God’, knowing the ‘characteristics of God’ and praying, there is a simple method St Ignatius offers for trying to “work it out”:
| Five Attitudes | Working It Out |
|---|---|
| Trust God is at work in your hopes and desires | Be clear about what you are deciding about |
| Believe God works through your daily events and people | Seek advice and information |
| Try to be free and not lean toward a particular choice | List and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each option |
| Give time and energy to “working it out” | Try to notice which option seems to bring either peacefulness or uneasiness |
| Have a basic commitment to follow God’s will as it becomes clear | Make a decision and have God confirm it in prayer |
In the last 18 months or so, too many things have been happening to me, as much as I hate to call them “signs” to continue to chalk them up as coincidences. But this post isn’t about that, you’ll have to wait for the book. Or maybe not.
Back to the chart. On the working it out side of the chart, I can speak to the first four from personal experience that if you don’t follow them, you end up in trouble and you make bad decisions. The fifth, I never did and should have, now that i do, it is certainly easier to make decisions.
The five attitudes all come down to this: You have to believe in God and that He truly does work for us. but for order for Him to do His work, you have to do yours, you have to believe.
The Wayward Catholic 