I often hate it when someone is being
indecisive (plinplan). While I'm also still learning to be able to decide, I
find it's harder for me to face other people who just can't decide or stick to
their very choice. Hopefully, this illustration below could teach us some lessons.
This story is almost the same with what
Albert Einstein experienced. One day he traveled from Princeton on a train. Yet
he couldn't find his ticket. When the conductor acknowledged what happened, he ensured, "Dr. Einstein, I know who you are. We all know who you are. I'm sure
you bought a ticket. Don't worry about it." To which Einstein responded,
"Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going.''
Einstein is a decisive person. But when
you lose a ticket—knowing not where you're going, and being unable to decide—that's a problem. A milksop.
***
A man knocked on the door of a farmer
and asked, “Sir, do you have any
odd-jobs I can do to earn some money?”
The farmer said, “Sure. My barn needs
painting. It should take you about three
days. You can start tomorrow morning.”
The fellow came back in the morning and
painted all day. After the day was over, he asked the farmer, “I finished
painting the barn. Do you have anything else I can do tomorrow?”
The farmer was surprised. “How did you
finish so fast?” The man answered, “Oh, I love to paint!”
“Ok,” said the farmer, “I have some wood
that needs to be cut. It should keep you busy for two days.”
The
next day, the man finished cutting all the wood and asked if the farmer had any
other jobs.
Again, the farmer was amazed that he
cut all the wood in one day. “How in the
world did you get all that wood cut in one day?”
The man answered, “Oh, I like to cut wood.”
“Well, I have some potatoes on the barn
floor that need sorting. Just put the small potatoes in one box; the medium
size in another box and the large ones in another box. It should only take you
about two or three hours.”
The next day, the man showed up to sort
the potatoes. After the day was over, the farmer went out to the barn to see
how the man did.
He was sitting there in the midst of the
potatoes with about ten potatoes in one box.
The farmer said, “I don’t understand.
You’re the fastest barn painter and wood cutter I’ve ever seen. But you’ve only
sorted ten potatoes all day long! What’s the problem?”
He answered, “Decisions! I have a hard time making decisions!”
"Once you’ve determined God’s direction, then you
must decide to go in that direction."
—Al Hughes
"There is no favorable wind for the sailor who
doesn't know where to go."
—Seneca
