To everyone facing a difficult decision today...
I have been there. I once was the HR guy who had to be the one to tell employees the company for which they worked had made a choice to change their policy. Each employee then had to choose whether or not they wanted to participate with the new policy or pack their bags. I had no input on the position in which I was put. My job in that moment was to be the messenger.
I have been there. I once was the employee who had to make a choice to leave a job because, ethically... I couldn't stay. It wasn't my place to cause a commotion or discuss the details with anyone, except the one with whose directives I couldn't comply. I had no other job to fall back on. My job in that moment was to lead my family in doing what I knew was right even when the stakes were high.
I have been there. I once was the dad who had to make a choice to exit a school system when the best schools in our area weren't the best options for our students. It wasn't my place to shout at the systems for not offering the individual coursework my kids needed to thrive as individuals. It was a personal choice to take ownership of what we felt was best for our people. My job in that moment was to create a learning environment best suited to prepare them for life after adolescence.
I have been there... between a rock and a hard place where there are no easy answers and yet, a choice had to be made. But here's the thing about rocks and hard places...
The rocks that are your hard places may indicate the places where you need to supplant the foundation of your faith. Rocks are hard. Rocks don't move. Hard places do.
Rocks... big ones... support lighthouses that help ships find their way amidst the blinding rains and crashing waves that are the hard places for people trying to make their way to safety. Rocks provide refuge... that's why people will sometimes hunker down or hide away in the cliffs of mountains until it is safe to emerge. Rocks can pulverize hard places to the point that they are usable... like how the grinding stone of a grist mill can turn corn into meal that can then be used for many different things. A mortar and pestle is a set of simple tools, often made from granite, and is used to crush or grind materials into powder that can then be used in other ways (think chemistry lab or making kitchen spices). Both the mortar and the pestle are made of stone and they work together to make something useful out of a hard substance (and they've been around since the Stone Age!). I guess what I'm trying to say with my rock analogies is this...
Rocks and hard places are part of life... a part we will never escape in this life. Hard things will come at you when you least expect them. They are often uninvited, they can sometimes be unrelenting, and they can make you feel like you are coming undone. Just remember, in matters of comparison... rocks are some of the hardest substances on earth. If you are willing to stand on top of the Rock... take refuge in the One who is able to protect you... you will find safety and solace instead of succumbing to the squeeze found between lifes rocks and its hard places.
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rick; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock." - Matthew 7:24-25
"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust." Psalm 18:2
"When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." - Psalm 61:2
"In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God." - Psalm 62:7
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