The Agony of Indecision – Sunday, September 04, 1955
As we look back upon the plight of Hamlet with all his problems, one of the things for which he was most to be pitied was his inability to make up his mind. But Hamlet wasn’t the only one who has hung between “to be or not to be.”
Even in the lesser things of life, most of us wrestle with ourselves in the agony of indecision. We wonder whether to go or whether to stay; whether to buy this or to buy that; whether to accept this proposal or another one; whether to take this job or some other; whether to go back to school and finish what we started, or to postpone our preparation, or to give it all up.
Sometimes decisions are made by default; that is to say, sometimes we simply sit and wait and worry until time takes the choice out of our hands. That’s one way of deciding—simply deciding not to decide. But if we do this too often, we live our lives in the agony of indecision.
All of us have to make choices every day, every hour, sometimes it seems almost every instant—some serious and some superficial. And if all of the right factors are on one side and all of the wrong factors are on the other, deciding should be a very simple matter.
In matters of principle, or morals, or ethics, or honesty there is really only one choice—or should be. But in other matters, sometimes it isn’t so simple. Often there are things to be said on both sides of a decision, Often we have to weigh one side against the other and give up something either way—and these are difficult decisions. But we need to decide-because hanging between two alternatives does much to waste time and nullify effectiveness.
When we seem to hang in uncertainty, there are some things that may help to settle us: One is a set of sound principles. We all urgently need a sound set of principles by which to measure everything. We need to know the rules the laws, the commandments.
Another thing we often also need is someone we can trust to talk to. And beyond our own wisdom and the wisdom of others we need faith—and a prayerful approach to all our problems. Some things we have to decide—and after we have done our very best to decide and to do what is best and right to do, we have some reason to expect the peace that comes with settled assurance.
God grant that we may have the wisdom and the faith to save ourselves from wasting life away in the agony of indecision. *
*Revised.
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September 04, 1955
Broadcast Number 1,359