Some tips on choosing options
Outside Durango CO
Almost two years ago, Rich and I began to plan a ride to Colorado and New Mexico for mid-May of 2026. I’d leave from SoCal, Rich from South Dakota, and we’d meet in Grand Junction CO. But I finally got a date scheduled for my much needed total knee replacement—April 1. Appropriate, I guess. My optimism for the ride said mid-May, my surgeon said three months. Yielding to his expertise, we penciled in Monday July 7, after the rush of the 4th. Remember the word “penciled.” Then Rich realized he forgot a commitment, so we pushed it back a week. In pencil. I had a hard deadline to be home by July 29, to teach at an online writers conference beginning the next day.
But Rich’s wife reminded him of a family reunion: he could leave it on Saturday July 19 and head home. So, we finally had our trip: leave our homes Sunday July 20, get home Tuesday July 29. But the trip got carved down a little more: the reunion had a Sunday event, so we departed our homes on Monday July 21. Then I realized I forgot to leave a day open before the conference for final fine tuning. More carving. See the need for pencil scheduling? And a mechanical issue forced a route change, missing a new and beautiful road. We began with a 14-day ride, and ended with 9 days on the roads of CA, AZ, NV, UT, CO, and NM. Yeah, well worth it, we had some awesome sights and food. We’d do it again.
All rides require adjusting, that’s life. Stuff happens, yet this topped the list with seven date changes, coming from families, work requirements, health, forgetfulness, national calendars and decisions by others. But how do we navigate our desired schedules with other forces and the reality of uncertainty and changes? This trip gave some tips: we try to set priorities in our lives based on what we value most, then we flex with the changes using values as a template. I love long distance rides in the midst of God’s creation, but that fun yielded to family, health, job responsibilities, and more. But let’s dig deeper.
We all make spiritual decisions, we have goals, so what key values apply? Let’s start with key values from Jesus, that we love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. He said all the other commands flow from these. So when we choose between options, we ask ourselves, which best expresses love for God and others?
Pretty simple, really. Not so simple in practice, I realize that. But when we have clear values, we have a template for choosing. One that pleases God. One that benefits us long term. And, it makes the choosing a little easier.
Kick Starting the Application
Do you have a previously decided template of values when you choose between options? Can you decide to use Jesus’ values?