Every passing year presents more decisions than the year before. As your children grow up, you have to decide when you should let them stay at home alone, take on a new extracurricular activity, or when to buy them a phone. It’s a lot of decision-making!!
I could see that these moments of losing sleep at night or having to come up with an answer, sometimes quickly, I needed a go-to strategy on how to decipher what to do. After considering what Eleanor might say in this situation, this was my answer: follow peace.
This strategy may not work for you, but I’m sharing it because it has been helpful for us. I can think back on situations that didn’t go well, and I ignored deep feelings in my heart. To no surprise, afterward, I would say to myself, “I had a feeling it would end in this way.”
But when you listen to that feeling inside—really listen to it—the outcome is so much better in the long run. For example, my oldest started driving this year. This makes me scared and, to be completely honest, really sad. She is growing up!! But when I used my tool to follow peace, my heart told me she was ready. After all of her practicing and knowing her cautious personality, she gave me no reason to have hesitation…even though I wanted to delay this significant milestone as her Mom.
On the surface, following peace may mean that your answers will steer them away from all dangers. Obviously, after reading that she is driving, this is not true! Listening to peace also helps avoid knee-jerk decisions. These quick judgments are typically influenced by your own insecurities, peer/social pressures, or not letting go of the past.
This is tough stuff, you guys!! We don’t nail the decision-making all the time. But if I turn off the noises from the influences I just mentioned, I can be reassured I made a decision that gave me PEACE. How can you argue with that? Think about it, when funneling a decision through the phrase “does this give me peace?” it has a different feeling versus the funnel “should we do it or not?” The latter tends to bring in more outside “noises” that distract us from the faithful feeling in our hearts.
Be intentional. Choose peace!
Lara