King David once said those that swear to their own hurt and do not change their mind or their vow, dwell with God. But, what do you do when torn between love, duty, and fidelity to your word? It is a test that inevitably comes to those that value these things.
How one resolves a clash between two rights is a true trial of character. In nursing school, multiple-choice tests invariably came down to a choice between two “right” answers in which one was deemed “more right” than the other. When the sought-after answer and the given one differed, debate often ensued.
If you stopped to examine the minutiae, the sought answer made more sense. The trouble is, in the heat of battle, there is not always time to sit down and ponder long for an answer. And sometimes the means of doing it the right way are not at hand. In such cases, it is necessary to do the best you can.
That is the moment when the underlying principles of a person come to the top. The necessary course is not always an easy or painless course. Love, duty, and fidelity can be extremely painful especially when they seem to be at odds with one another.
However, though you cannot love God and mammon, I have found these life principles are never truly at odds. If you are true to your duty brought on my love, you shall never fail in the course divinely set for you.
I have made plenty of mistakes in my life the oft recounting of which has cost me dearly. Nevertheless, I persevere because there is no other course but to do the best one can and seek God’s mercy for the rest.
It is best to be slow to speak, circumspect with words, and to join hands suddenly with no one. Every friendship and every relationship costs a piece of us. The closer and stronger the relationship, the larger the piece of us it will take.
This is not a reason to shun relationships, only a matter of understanding the nature of them and investing in the “most right” ones—the mutual ones. These are the ones that will not blow with the wind, the ones that feel the whip of the wind, yet stand into it. In these days of shifting situational values, make your word known and clear.
Having done that stand rooted by your principles in that word. Being resolved in what you believe, and value only seems narrow-minded to those without belief or resolution to abide by their stated values. Know thyself and you will know thy course. The Marines have a pair of words for this Semper Fidelis.
Maranatha
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