Discretion’s Preservation
One definition given for the word discretion is this: free will – the power of making free choices unconstrained by external agencies.
This speaks to me of freedom: the ability to act or judge on one’s own. The ability to make wise choices or decisions, and the freedom to make one’s own judgments.
I learnt this as a teenager when many of my so-called friends took up the habit of smoking. I also learnt it when these same individuals decided to use illicit drugs, engage in immorality, and choose to follow whatever the crowd was endorsing at the time. I chose another path.
However, to my utmost surprise, I then stumbled across the same pressure and resistance in religious circles, where restrictions were placed upon all from exploring certain truths found within God’s word. These were the ones, because of tradition, that they wanted to overlook or dust under the carpet. And at that time I had the choice of either satisfying the status quo, or following my heartfelt convictions. Once again I chose another path.
But what liberty comes with being true to oneself. And what persecution accompanies it at times. But what exhilaration rises within your chest as you know because you know that to be true to yourself operates on a much higher plane than that which is imposed by the masses.
Upstream is where you find yourself swimming. When they say you will never fly, you choose to fly. When they say that you will drown, you choose to swim. When they say you will die, you choose to live. When they say you will never make it, you choose to place one foot before the other in a forward direction.
Oh there will be times that you will fall and even fail – but the satisfaction comes from the daring, and from the freedom that is yours. You are cutting your own dusty path and paving your own road – the road towards your dreams along, what you see in your mind’s eye, is your highway of hope and freeway of faith. And on these you can now travel in perfect peace with yourself and with the one who first issued your travel itinerary.
