Full Impact

It is hard to see the full impact of life’s actions, choices, and decisions.  The uncertainty of knowing exactly what one saw.  One can never accurately understand motives and intent.  Puzzles, webs, and messy situations are normal.  Everything dances and moves; only time allows the story to be told.  Or so we think.
 
Perhaps there is a way of knowing, anticipating, how things will turn out.  What if we could divine our way into a point of power, freedom, and control?  I believe God has given each the discernment necessary to begin the process.  Start and the Spirit will come along side to help clarity and direct.  Everything can be seen for what it is, the full impact can be known.  Life may seem complex, yet it is, at the core, quite simple. 
 
The key is to focus on the heart of the matter.  I find life boils down into two questions.  Is the choice one focused on the individual?  It is one that solely benefits a single soul?  Can one see focus of the driver and motive?  If it is an individual then the answer to these questions is simply that the decision is selfish.  The full impact of selfishness is personal reliance, glory, and “I” as king.  One soul consumes another, because one wins.  One exacts justice from the other, because one wins.  One stomps, exploits, and takes advantage – because there is a winner.
 
The alternative is just as clear.  When the focus of actions, decisions, and choices are on the community – living with and for others – then even mistakes have a positive impact.  When one sees a heart in the right place, even mistakes are rewarded with help.  When one finds sacrifice, unmerited gifts to others, or unconditional acceptance, one knows they are in the presence of divinity!  In times like this I know the full impact – “The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid.  Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them.” (Isaiah 11.6) 
 
Today we touch.