Choices

Choice, it’s such an interesting concept. In some parts of the world it’s taken for granted, in other parts there is no such thing as having choice.

For the most part, I haven’t been to bothered by needing to make choices where I feel conflicted about my ability to make the right decision.

Having lived overseas for most of my life, in places where people do not have a lot of excess or choice, I still have to fight a feeling of claustrophobia whenever I go into shopping centres and supermarkets with their incredible range of absolutely everything. Do we really need ten types of toothpaste or fifty types of breakfast cereal? But then again, why not? We’re all different. We all like different things. Obviously there is a market for it all.

I’m in the position at the present where I’m feeling strangled by the immense weight of choice. What do I want? I can choose and there are lots of good choices. So what is it that I want?

When we worked in Papua New Guinea we were told in what community we would be living in and in what house. So, we made the best out of whatever we got.

Last year, when we lived in country Victoria, we had the choice of two rental houses for the whole town. One was a dump and the other was a lovely house, so we chose the lovely house. There was one kindergarten, so no decision there and Matt and I worked out of our lovely house.

Here in Cairns, we have a whole city to choose from, there are hundreds, if not thousands of rental properties. There are dozens of schools. And the whole decision making process is made somewhat mind-boggling by the vast amount of choice.

Sometimes, I just want someone to say, “This is the right choice, go with it.”

We are trying to get a rental property at the moment and the market is pretty tight. There are lots of people looking for houses and lots of people looking for houses, like us, who are also considering schools for their kids and proximity to work.

I’m beginning to understand the frustration of making a decision where there is no one right answer. We are going to have to make the decision and whatever the outcome live with it. We can’t blame someone else and say, we had no choice. I’m so glad that life is not a tightrope. If our decision turns out to be the wrong one, well, we can always do a u-turn.

So we’re doing a lot of praying, a lot of looking and a lot of pushing on doors to see if they open or stay firmly shut. Trusting that whatever decision we make will be done so with wisdom from God and trusting that God will see us through in the outcome.