Friday, July 9, 2010

Options for Decisions and Good Judgment

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." - Jesus

"You ultimately have to live with your decision your going to make, and you have to do what's best for you, for your family, and for you to ultimately be happy." - Lebron James

I love watching Lebron James play basketball. He truly has talents that are unmatched in his sport. Last night I "witnessed" him on ESPN declare that he was going to play for the Miami Heat next season. I also noticed something else that's quite common in our society today. He suggested that he based his decision ultimately on his desire to be happy. Certainly, that's one decision making process that many people use today. Unfortunately, there's one important flaw in that type of thinking. In his award winning book, Stumbling on Happiness, Dr. Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University proves emperically that we humans aren't very good at predicting that which will make us happy in the future. In fact, the majority of the time, we're dead wrong.

For his and his family's sake, I wish Lebron James peace and happiness in the future. Yet, I think it's good for all of us to analyze more closely the foundational thought processes we use to make decisions in life. In his classic, Strength to Love, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr wrote, "The end of life is not to be happy nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may."