Of Fog and Decisions

My friend and Energion author Greg May writes about navigating in the fog today on Greg’s Waterin’ Hole. The post brought back a memory from the 60s, traveling with my family in Chiapas, Mexico, way off the main roads. We were in the mountains on a gravel road, with a cliff on either side, and we drove up into the fog at night. We were nearly at our destination and I guess my dad didn’t want to hang out where there was nowhere even to park. So my mom had her head out one window and one of my older sisters (I suspect Patty, as she was more likely to be navigating) had her head out the other. They’d yell if the car got too close to either side. We didn’t go over the edge, nor did we try to climb the mountain the most direct way, but it seemed to be a close run thing.

I think that the image of waiting for the fog to lift that Greg uses is a good one, whether we’re thinking spiritually or just plain logically. (We often assume there’s a great gulf fixed between those two viewpoints, but I think not.) There’s the overconfident person, arrogant in his or her own knowledge and wisdom, who takes off before the fog has lifted, often blundering into ruin. On the other hand, there’s the fatally indecisive person, who waits for the last cloud to disappear from the sky before becoming certain that a decision is possible.

I tend toward the second. Jody balances me. I think it often works that way if we learn to listen to the people around us.

When there is no guidance a nation falls, but there is success in the abundance of counselors (Proverbs 11:14, NET).

12 The words of a wise person win him favor,
but the words of a fool are self-destructive.

13 At the beginning his words are foolish
and at the end his talk is wicked madness,
yet a fool keeps on babbling.

No one knows what will happen;
who can tell him what will happen in the future? (Ecclesiastes 10:12-14, NET)