I have always prided myself on making good decisions. I would even say I am willing to make tough decisions and have often seen myself pull the trigger on decisions that had to be made. On the other hand, when it comes to matters where loyalty to another person brings emotional weight to a decision I have found I struggle in making the right decision….,well that’s not actually accurate, I struggle to make a decision at all. Sensing what needs to be said or done often I will hold back so as to guard the person the decision will affect…..,or is it about them at all? Maybe I’m holding back to guard my own heart from being seen as hard, cold, selfish or impersonal. However it might be, my tendency to deal with the one indecisively at the expense of the whole seems to out weigh my courage to make the tough call. With a non-decision like that set in motion it carries into the future the same outcome as the present. Also it carries the baggage of knowing that you know what needs to be done, but thinking another day, week, month, or year will fix it.
Recently a person told me that hurting people is inevitable as a leader. He said you will hurt people when you make decisions. Even when they are the right decisions. The goal is not to keep people from hurting when a tough decision is to be made, but to minimize the pain. This is something I am learning the hard way. Our recent staffing shifts have been difficult as I have tried to break free from indecision to pull the trigger and make the tough call. Often as a leader you will feel from your neck up that you are making the right choice, but from your belt to your throat you just feel awful. When you feel that and you know what you need to do, do it even it it makes your heart hurt. When you feel that and it makes you sick knowing that the decision you have to make will hurt the one, but it is right for the whole, do it any way. You need to make the tough decision. Your integrity and love for people will stand, and time will reveal that the greatest harm you could have inflicted on all involved was to not make the tough decision.
If you are going through a time of difficult decisions please feel free to email ross@momentumchurch.tv and I will lift you up to the Lord in prayer that He might give you the courage necessary to not only make the right call, but to do it in a timely way.
Proverbs 2:6-8 “
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
