A divorced couple in Trento, north east Italy, could not agree whose house their son should stay at over Christmas and took their argument to a family disputes court. The judge said there wasn’t enough time before Christmas to convene the tribunal so he tossed a two-euro coin for ‘heads-or-tails’. “I certainly couldn’t do like Solomon,” the judge commented, “and divide the child. So I trusted to luck”.
We are involved in making judgements of varying degrees of importance all day every day. We don’t normally leave the ones we are conscious of making to the toss of a coin. We would prefer to have the kind of imaginative, creative and decisive approach displayed by Solomon.
Solomon saw his wisdom as a gift. He had a dream in which, in a conversation with God, he chose to be given wisdom rather than long life or wealth. It’s often our experience that the right decision comes to us like a gift. We still go through the struggle of thinking everything through – and this remains an important part of the process – but the answer can sometimes seem to come as if out of nowhere.
Part of the art of making decisions is the ability self-consciously to allow ourselves to receive the answer. There’s no escape from the hard grind of analysing various options but if we open ourselves to the possibility of help from beyond, we may be more likely to be given the clarification we seek.
Read: Give your servant an understanding mind…able to discern between good and evil (1 Kings 3.9)
Rejoice: in the occasions when I’ve made the right choice.
Reflect: Is there a decision I’m in the process of making where I’d do well to stop struggling for the answer and see if it comes?
Remember: God can do something creative even with our wrong decisions.
Resolve: to look to receive guidance in life’s everyday choices as well as its more significant ones
Tasting Life 