New Reminders: Choices

We all make a number of choices each day, from what to wear, to what we will prioritize and do.  Most of us have developed routines that help us narrow down how many choices we have to make, depending what our most pressing responsibilities are.   Ecclesiastes 8:6 teaches, “For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a person may be weighed down by misery.”

One of the things that tends to weigh us down is having too many choices.  Research indicates that the average person is capable of holding only about 5-7 different possibilities in our minds at once.  Therefore, we all must narrow down the choices to a manageable number.  For example, in choosing cereals, a mother might eliminate all the ones with sugary coatings, then chooses the ones her children will eat.  In trying to teach her children to make good choices, that same mother might give her 5-year-old only two choices of what to wear to kindergarten, “The red outfit or the blue?”  She might give her ten-year-old, three or four.

At a conference for the Alliance for Decision Education, choice expert Dr. Sheena Iyengar said: “Our natural impulse is to just give ourselves more and more choices because we’re convinced that when the perfect choice hits us—we’ll know it when we see it.  The reality is that the more stimuli coming our way, the more saturated we get.”  She was warning that too many choices can overwhelm us.

Working with college-age students Iyengar said, “I’m going to accept the fact that you’re biased.  I’m not going to ask you, ‘What are you looking for?’  I’m going to ask you, ‘If you were to find the perfect job; if you were to find the perfect romantic relationship, how would you want to feel?’  It’s important to surface those adjectives upfront.  They tell you what your bias is.”  In other words, sometimes the job that pays the best, might not be the job that makes you happiest.  The person who is most physically attractive might not be the best companion for a person who likes to go four-wheeling through the mud.

The same factors should guide us when making religious choices.  Just as in jobs or romantic relationships there is no perfect denomination or individual church, but some are better aligned with our beliefs and are more well suited to our social and emotional tastes.  The main criteria must not only include what precepts we choose to follow, but how the worship and missions of the church line up with our desire to serve our Lord and savior in the best way possible for us.  Let the Holy Spirit be your guide!