Blog By Polly Boyette
Have you ever gotten yourself into really stupid and embarrassing predicaments? Years ago at my job as a Human Resources Advisor I was sitting talking to a co-worker, Chris, when she reminded me that there was an all-employee staff meeting in the conference room down the hall. It was supposed to be starting in about five minutes, but I didn’t want to attend. We had been to so many meetings that week I had gotten behind. Chris didn’t have to attend because she was working on a special project. So I cleverly decided to stay behind and catch up on a few things. All the employees filed out of the office to attend the meeting, but I lagged behind, pretending to search for a pen and paper for taking notes. When everyone had gone, I just leaned back in my chair and breathed a sigh of relief.
Chris and I were talking and working away when we heard the voice of the Deputy Director coming down the hallway. In a moment of panic I decided to duck down underneath my desk and pulled my office chair in behind me. Now Chris’s desk was directly behind mine and it was situated so she could see directly underneath my desk. She looked shocked to see me suddenly pop out of sight.
Suddenly the Deputy Director poked his head into the office. “Hello,” he shouted from the doorway. “Aren’t you going to the meeting?” he asked Chris.
“Uh, no, I’m working on this special project so I’m not attending the meeting,” she answered with a strange look on her face.
The deputy obviously didn’t want to attend the meeting either because he plopped himself in the chair beside my desk and started a conversation with Chris. She looked like she was about to explode with nervous laughter as she tried to keep one eye on the Deputy and the other one on me cowering uncomfortably in the darkness.
After a few minutes, the Deputy got up and slowly strolled out of the office, stopping every couple of steps to look at something on his way out.
When the coast was finally clear I hopped out from underneath my desk like a rabbit that had just outwitted an enemy. I was so glad to get out of my prison because I was sweating bullets, not to mention I was very uncomfortable under there. Chris and I laughed until we cried, stopping only to check the hallway for a return visit from the deputy.
“What were you thinking?” asked Chris.
“I don’t have a clue,” I replied. “I just had an impulse to dive under the desk. Of course, I realized how stupid I looked once I got down there, but then it was too late. How would I have explained it if he had discovered me there?”
Often we’re quick to make decisions or act on an impulse without thinking the consequences all the way through. We may reason well, it’s permissible, so why not?
In 1 Corinthians 6:12 NIV Paul says, “Everything is permissible for me—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me—but I will not be mastered by anything.”
Christianity is meant to be a life of grace and freedom, bound only by the limitations we place on ourselves. But when making hasty decisions in life don’t ask whether it is permissible, ask is it beneficial?
God is not asking us to be slaves to a list of “do’s and don’ts.” He’s inviting us to live the abundant life we’re meant to live. But in 2019 resign to ask yourself with each decision you make, “Is this beneficial?” Don’t allow a quick decision to trap you in an uncomfortable position that could affect you for a long time to come.