Making Good Choices: Plowing Straight Rows in a Crooked World

by Ronald “Dee” Vaughan

When my dad taught me how to mow the lawn (yes, we had lawnmowers back then), he showed me a way to make a straight cut across the yard in spite of the presence of trees, shrubs, and swing-sets that could get me off course. Dad taught me to locate an object on the far side of the yard and keep it in view as I cut a straight path towards it. I later learned that the high value my father placed on cutting grass in straight rows was a carryover from his own childhood experiences of growing up on a farm. He faced the challenge of plowing straight rows across large fields with numerous visual temptations to veer off in one direction or another. His father taught him to find a tall tree growing just beyond the field he was plowing and make his row straight by keeping that tree in sight and using it as his guide as he crossed the many rises, falls, and slopes of the land.

My dad’s technique has served me well. I’ve never plowed a field and the only grass I cut is my own, but the principle of guiding my path by markers that transcend the landscape in front of me has often helped me make better decisions in ministry. We seldom serve on level ground. The landscape of church life is fraught with demands, issues, and personalities we must work our way around or through as we pursue God’s work in the world. Our personal preferences, prejudices, and pain can add a steep slope to our field and pull us, almost unconsciously, in one direction or another. Many of a minister’s toughest and most impactful choices are made in the midst of crisis, as though a storm uproots a tree that falls across your path. How, then, can we remain faithful to our calling and make the best choices in tough times?

We must guide our course by landmarks that transcend the landscape of our immediate circumstances. I have found that asking myself two questions, my tall trees beyond the field, helps me plot my path forward and stay on it.

First, I ask, “If I based my next step solely on my values (not my feelings, fatigue, frustration, or fantasies), what step would I take?” Asking this question doesn’t mean that my emotions aren’t real or important. I need to listen to what I feel and learn from it. But choices based on emotion are usually reactive in nature, allowing the forces of the moment to dictate our response. Consulting your values allows you to look up from the pressures of the moment and see the larger picture of how you want to live your life.

Second, I ask, “What step can I take that will move me forward in my journey of becoming the person God has created and called me to be?” Asked differently, “How would ‘the me I want to be’ respond to this situation?” This question unleashes the power of Paul’s life-guiding principle, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12 NIV). Consulting your best self is a helpful way to see beyond the stumps and slopes of your present moment and choose a path that will lead you forward in your personal and spiritual growth.

As you work your uneven, rocky, obstacle-ridden field, may you find your tall trees beyond it and let them guide you to faithful decisions and fruitful ministry.