Free Will - by Sue Campbell

When it’s my turn to blog, I try to be open to share something God’s laying on my heart to ponder.  This week, I’ve been thinking about free will.  I looked up the definition of free will:  “the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion”; which led me to the definition of discretion:  “the quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense or revealing private information.”

Hmmm…In His infinite wisdom and love, God gave the power of free will to us, but it seems to me that the tough part is acting with discretion.  In a world where things can be bought and sold, done and said -instantaneously with a click of a key - stopping to think about ‘avoiding offense or revealing private information’ can be pretty hard.

Would it help to apply that ‘5-second’ rule – you know, where you can still eat something that dropped on the floor?  What if we tried lengthening the time – 5 minutes or even 5 hours – before we make that impromptu purchase, send that email response, or post that Facebook picture or comment?  Would it help us to act with more discretion – preserving peace and relationships a bit more?

I’m humbled and grateful that God blessed me with free will.  But I’m also praying that He reminds me daily that it comes with the responsibility of discretion.