A Leap of Faith

Today I woke up and I thought I knew what I was doing with my life.

Within thirty minutes of eating breakfast, I was in major crisis mode.
Five minutes later, I had no idea what path my life would take.

And an hour after that, I was right back on track. New life plan. Modified life plan.

I'm imagining that someone will come up to me one day and ask me to lead a crash course for young people making life-changing decisions. The first principle I'm going to make them aware of is the 3 Second Make-It-Or-Break-It Big Bang Choice-eroo.

Take it like this. Say you're planning on staying a summer semester at school and suddenly you realize that you can take all your courses online and live at home and potentially save thousands of dollars for the price of living at home for a few extra months. What should you do first? Obviously a very big decision sits in front of you, with money and education and your mental health on the line! How do you make such a decision?

Now it's probably wise to write out the pros and cons. Then you should think seriously about how the choices will affect you in the future, and contrast that outcome with where you really want to be headed. Then you should consult your mother. ALWAYS consult your mother before changing your life. You should wrap all of this up with a good prayer. ALWAYS consult the Lord before changing your life.

Ultimately all your preparation and pondering will come down to three solitary seconds.  That is when you make up your mind based off all the knowledge you have, and you make a big choice. It's that moment Harry decided to confront Voldemort alone. It's the moment Hiccup reached to touch Toothless. It's the moment when Rapunzel jumped from her tower to an unknown world. It's the moment Nephi decided that heck yes, he was going to build that boat. It's terrifying, yes. It's a horrible, gut-wrenching, second-guessing feeling. You have no idea what the outcome will be, or whether it was right or wrong or good or not good or genius or ludicrous. BUT! You follow through. You press through all that self-doubt and make that choice.

And then you take a little breather and realize that you just started another chapter in your book.

We recognize that this flawed, uncomfortable style of decision making happens often as you grow. A wise woman offered this advice: "You can change the entire course of your life in one day." If that isn't pressure I don't know what is. After mulling it over all day, I've deduced that two probing questions come from understanding this concept, the first being: if you could change your life in one day, what would you do? Quickly following that: what are you doing with yourself today that will change the future?

Confession: I'm awful at this. I'm just trying to figure it out. How do I make things better today? How can I be brave today? How can I change the world today? It's all overwhelming. I'll let you know when I find a good solution. All I know for now, is that I pray, ask God to guide my feet, and take another step into the dark. So far so good right? That's enough, if just for today.

The reference to the title can be found here. Make your own inferences.