Life & Family | Virtue´s Clues

That's the first missing piece in our lives: no start, no finish.

by Benjamin O'Loughlin, LC | Source: www.FormationToolbox.com

One sure way to make sure you never win a game of SORRY: don't start.

   In a board game, if you don't want to play, you don't have to. But life is different. God didn't ask you if you wanted to play. He just created you.

   We have to play, like it or not. And all of us play for one thing: happiness. That's what drives every one of our choices.

   The good news? We're hard-wired for happiness - that's why we can't get enough of it. The bad news?  We don't know what makes us happy. Worse, we forget that we don't know... and keep right on living as if we knew. We worry about eating, sleeping, getting to work, loving spouse and kids, even helping others... but we forget why we do it all.

   In other words we plan strategy, worry about the next move, argue with other players, and never place our token on START. Because we never ask ourselves where it is.

   That's the first missingpieceinour lives: no start, no finish. And it's where God steps in with his first gift for helping us make life's decisions: faith.

   Because God is what makes us happy. Everything else - friends, family, life - are just ways he makes us happy. They're part of the game, but they won't fill our hearts unless we start on the right foot. Faith lets us see that. Even if we haven't looked over every turn on the path of life, faith shows us to START. We don't know where the dice will send us, or what decisions we'll have to make. But we know where we're headed: God and happiness.

   It's a first of four steps towards solid decision-making. And you can take right now, all day, and during your whole life.

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Benjamin O'Loughlin writes for www.formationtoolbox.com

This Catholic Formation Service is also available by e-mail.