Keystrokes

Far too often, I’m afraid, we view the trajectory of our lives as being guided like an intercontinental ballistic missile with the rocket fuel, that which propels the projectile on its course, being analogous to the “big decisions” we make, i.e. what school we go to, what career path we choose, whom we marry, and how many kids to have (or in my generation, of which I am no exception, whether to have them at all or, better yet, how many dogs to have).  We view our seemingly small, everyday decisions with the same ambivalence as a light sea breeze that may make the missile land a few centimeters off of its projected target.  More often than not, however, quite the reverse is true.  In fact, so much so, that “little decisions” is not even a category to be considered or contended with.  Every decision, in some shape or fashion is a big one.  Rather than turning up the heat in the combustion chamber of our minds, this should open the pressure-release valve, since we do not have to fret as much over the purportedly “big decisions”; again, not because there are no big decisions, but for the fact that every decision is a big one.  How could one have the audacity to make such a claim?  Without going full-force butterfly effect meets ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, allow me to explain.  Let’s say a woman wants to purchase a set of wind chimes for her porch (surely that category or thrifty desire is not misogynistic, is it?) but rather than venture to the local Home Depot she decides to go the way of the world and save two dollars, while waiting two extra months, and buy it from a Hong Kong port via ‘ebay’.  Ultimately, this will lend itself to a brown truck turning down her street that previously would not have; this will mean that traffic in that locality will be forever different as another car or cars will have had to wait for that truck to turn, which could lead to a wreck a few moments later (or prevent one!) that would have never happened, or lead to a missed deadline at work for another person by a few minutes, which leads to an argument, which leads to unemployment…the cycle and ramifications are endless.  That is not crazy talk, that is reality!  We do not live to ourselves only.  One man’s keystroke could be the difference in his family staying together or not, of which the implications and ramifications would be nearly endless, for generations.  A ship sailing from New York to Portsmouth, England, if it started a course just one degree off and continued that course, would end in a far different place.  “So then be careful how you live.  Don’t live like fools, but those who are wise…” (Eph 5:15)