Tag Archive | jesus

It is All About How and Where You Place the First Domino

Feb28

Like tipping dominos, every decision we make triggers a chain reaction of events or consequences that either fall into place neatly like alphabetically aligned books on a shelf or out of place chaotically like a carpet of confetti on New Year’s morning.  We can make mindful decisions that are well thought out for intentional outcomes or we can make our choices hastily without giving them a second thought.

In the Writer’s Digest Feb 2021 article: Plot Twist Story Prompts: Forced Decisions, Author/ Editor, Robert Lee Brewer says the following:   How characters handle making decisions reveals a lot about them. Some people seem born to make decisions without a second thought to whether they’re right or wrong. Others agonize over the tiniest decisions and will shut down if given the chance. Whether small or large, each decision we make sends action ripples forward, altering the elevation, length or direction of our own individual path or someone else’s.

Take for instance, Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”, in which two conflicting paths in the woods serve as a metaphor for making important life decisions.  The speaker in this poem ultimately chooses “the road less traveled by”, -a decision that “has made all the difference” pointing toward how a single decision at any intersection or junction can determine the entire trajectory of one’s life or at least an important part of it.

Complicating this further, as much as we like to think our decisions will affect only ourselves, they are not stand alone dominoes, each one an island, isolated and insignificant.  Every choice we make could impact other individuals and their stories or their part in ours, from family and friends to community, society and the world.  That first domino touches the next one, and the next one touches the one after that and so on.  One small decision, prompted by a single seemingly unimportant thought, idea, or judgment could invoke anywhere from a minor ramification to a colossal aftershock beyond repair.  Sometimes we might know that in advance and other times the consequences take us completely by surprise.

 As we know, an action does not become an action without a thought to trigger it, however; in between the tiny space between the two is the decision directing us like a crossing guard with the ability to prevent or cause catastrophe. And further, supporting the thoughts that impact our decisions, there are the contributing variables that further influence outcomes, some positive like faith, love, friendship, grace, mercy, and so forth and others that can easily generate negative results, like the need for immediate gratification, selfishness, greed, pride, sloth and so many more -each resulting decision serving as the first domino in a line of dependents. 

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus makes the decision to defend Tom Robinson, despite realizing he likely won’t win, attesting to his strong morals and belief that equality should prevail over racism. He further chooses compassion over the law when he covers for Boo to avoid destroying another man’s life.  Additionally, the jury engages in collective decision-making when they subscribe to racial prejudice rather than actual evidence. And of course we have Boo Radley himself who makes the self- sacrificing decision to save innocent children from Bob Ewell’s acts of evil.  All of these decisions are influenced by contributing factors like courage, ethics, morals, societal conformity, injustice, racism and more- both positive and negative.

In F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the naive and narrow-minded pursuit of the American Dream, the need to feel accepted in society, and the quest to follow love although blindly and irresponsibly, drive the characters’ decisions. Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom make careless decisions nurtured by reckless ideas of love and desire, selfishness and a tainted view of the world and one another. 

In E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web:  Charlotte makes the decision to save Wilber out of loyalty, selflessness, love and friendship while at first Wilbur makes no decision, remaining passive- depending on others, until later when he makes the decision to care for Charlotte’s children in a chain reaction set in motion by Charlotte’s first carefully and strategically positioned domino inspired by love, friendship and loyalty at play.

In Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable, the characters learn the value of individual choices that have the ability to  transform life and society, choosing between redemption and  safety, between the law and mercy, compassion and self-interest, love and self survival, love and duty. Each character faces a struggle that comes with difficult decision-making -each one affecting another character’s personal confrontation with adversity. As Hugo writes;  “ The straight line is a respectable optical illusion which ruins many a man”.  In other words, nothing is black or white or easy.  One tipped domino might cause a chain reaction of ripples that can save or destroy lives.

And in one of my favorite stories, Frank Capra’s movie; It’s a Wonderful Life,  George Bailey must make self sacrificing decision after decision for the sake of those he loves and the small town he always thought he wanted to leave behind for “greener pastures”. Each of the dominoes he generously and selflessly sets up affects so many others, revealing the far-reaching deep impact of each one of his decisions, opening eyes to the more important purposes in life:  love, friendship, faith and family.

Even within the greatest narrative of all time, the Holy Bible, there are stories to reflect the varying consequences related to decision making that result in life changing outcomes.  Some of these include the Jericho prostitute Rehab’s decision  to hide Joshua’s spies despite the extreme risk to her life and family,  the decision made by  Paul from Tarsus to follow Jesus after at first persecuting Jesus and his followers, Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God’s command not to bite the forbidden fruit,  Daniel’s decision to choose faith in God over fear for his life, David’s decision to face the Giant with only a stone and a sling as his weapon, Joseph’s decision to believe in Mary’s faithfulness and virginity so that he could father the Son of God, Moses’ decision to chose his Jewish heritage over the Egyptian protection he had grown up with,  and Abraham’s reluctant decision to obey God’s command to potentially sacrifice his beloved son Isaac.  This decision making in the bible that requires active faith and trust in God, always difficult, sometimes agonizing and yet not impossible, demonstrates how one domino has the power to affect other dominoes lined up in its path. Psalm 119:105, reads “your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”, signifying that decisions should honor God’s word, which serves as a guide for life’s path.   It is our responsibility to decide and act obediently while God takes care of the associated outcomes; our decisions are influenced by what we place and nurture inside us to ultimately determine the journey ahead.

Whether we are the authors of our own life stories or of the fictional stories we create, setting up the first domino at the start of the line, we are the ones in control, the ones to whom our creator gifted free will, decision-making and fate. Whether we realize the effects that first domino placement will have on our own part in our own story or the effects our decisions will have on others who take part somewhere else in our story or in their own story, in the end it is ALL about how and where we place each decision-making domino that matters. Each one of those dominoes decides the connecting fate awaiting each of us or our characters in the last line of our story as the final domino either topples over in disappointing or tragic outcome or remains standing, ever-faithful, righteous, hopeful and strong.

Written words are not footprints in the sand

Aug31

I have often wondered what of me my children will remember. Will they remember how much I loved them?  Will they remember the many wonderful times we shared together?  And what of these memories will impact their life stories and the way they navigate through their own futures?  Will they take bits and pieces of us with them or will those bits and pieces eventually disappear like dried up leaves in the wind.

In Amy Harmon’s “What the Wind knows”, the author discusses this thought:  We were specks, bits of glass and dust.  We were as numerous as the sands that lined the strand, one unrecognizable from the other. We were born; we lived; we died.  And the cycle continued endlessly on.  So many lives lived. And when we died, we simply vanished.  A few generations would go by. And no one would know we even were. No one would remember the color of our eyes or the passion that raged inside us.  Eventually, we all became stones in the grass, moss covered monuments, and sometimes… not even that.

The idea of our temporary existence verses permanently leaving our mark within our small beloved circles of family and friends, or the expanded, larger circles of community, society and even the world is a question that I have pondered every now and then. Are we merely footprints in the sand, to be washed away with the next generational tide, erased as if we were almost never even here?  For how long will our descendants remember us?  Surely, one day all they will be left with are faded photographs with barely legible identity labels to mark our blurry once upon a time existence.

In contrast to our impermanent state, WORDS ARE forever.  The stories we write and read and share  leave immortal recordings of our adventures, passions, lessons, history, ideas, wisdom and narratives that transcend time like the stars in the sky, the waves in the ocean and the ancient trees inhabiting our state forests. From the Bible to ancient Greece’s Homer with his 8th century “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”- to Aesop’s famous fables, to Plato’s exploration of ideas, reality and the ideal society, to Aristotle’s pathos, ethos and logos, and all the other great works of literature lining book shelves everywhere, words were written, read, analyzed and preserved for their present day readers as well as for future audiences, providing an infinite promise of timeless and profound effect on our lives.  

Prominent English writer, William Hazlitt once said; Words are the only things that last forever; they are more durable than the eternal hills. What truly shapes the world is not the physical landscapes we esteem or the material possessions we value and accumulate over time, but the written ideas and stories we grow from our hearts and our ever curious minds, that we pass down, read and remember that enriches our connection to one another and our creator, that honors our similarities and differences, and immortalizes our love for one another- that is most important and eternal.

In the Writer Digest January/February interview with world-renowned astrophysicist and author, Neil deGrasse Tyson, contributing author Zachary Petit asks Mr. deGrasse Tyson to describe how he came to love words;  Words can have influence beyond just the dictionary definition of their meaning, because when you string words together in a particular way, the sum of the sequence of words is greater than what they would weigh individually.  He later discusses why he feels the world needs poets (artists of words -or writers), he says I don’t need you to poeticize something that is already a visual spectacle achievement of this species.  Those are not the times I need an artist. You know when I need an artist? When I forgot how to pay attention to something, when I forgot how to love, when I forgot how to see the beauty in something that’s hidden in plain sight. And you force me, by the string of words, to take pause and say, “Wow, I never thought about it that way. It is more beautify than I ever realized, or it is beautiful in a way I never thought it was.”

In my own home office I have a frame on my book shelf displaying author Zadie Smith’s quote: The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.  It is through the words we thread together that we uncover and give meaning to the way we see life, the way we feel life, the way we mold life and the way we live it.  By paying attention to and placing value on our surroundings- the people, places, events, and emotions and ideas in our world and by writing about it -we craft what Neil deGrasse Tyson says artists do so perfectly:  For me, he says, access to beauty requires an artist because they see things that are otherwise invisible to the rest of us. Words have that special magic to capture and magnify all kinds of beauty and to bring that beauty to life- and even further- to shield it from the aging process that eventually erodes, destroys or erases everything else.

However, while words can be timeless pieces of art, to be honored, admired and valued for years to come, they can also cause pain and irrevocable damage when thrown about impulsively, carelessly or in a moment of weakness, when shaped without thoughtful consideration for the consequent influence they might have.  Despite our modern technology that makes it easy to delete or erase regretful words on a screen, there will almost always be a permanent footprint left somewhere in the universe with the potential to leave behind a heart broken, a friendship cost, a promise not kept, an act of wrong-doing or any number of non-intentional results that have ever- lasting effects. Words are treasures to be valued- never to be taken for granted or abused.

We are here -for the minute our creator gave us- living as real- life characters in our own hybrid of autobiographical-fictional life stories, and as fleeting as our time is here, it is up to us to make that time inspiringly and optimistically meaningful in some way or somewhere- for someone- or some-ones- with our words…  The right words…The best words….The words that earn the right to outlive us.

 Like the fourth of July fireworks, with their short-lived but impactful bursts of red, blue, purple and gold that dazzle the smooth dark sky, we peak and then we fizzle out, ultimately disappearing from sight.  Like temporary puddles after a hard rain so very present in those moments, we too will eventually evaporate from the earth’s surface, one day gone with little to no trace of our existence.

And like footprints in the sand, we too will wash away over time while the words we leave behind will linger far into the future, long after the tides have been here and gone.