“If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.” (Page 58)
Whilst I’m making a decision, there are two or more options
on the table. When I make a decision, I push all of the options off the table
except one, and that’s the one I’m sticking with.
If I start to ‘reconsider the options’, I did not actually make
a decision, or I’ve put previously rejected options back on the table. The back
door’s been open all the time, or I’ve nipped back and opened it. Leave the
back door open, and you’ll feel a constant draught. That’s a recipe for insecurity
and instability. I have to be careful to make decisions only when the facts
have materially changed, e.g. through acquiring a considerable body of new evidence.
The decision in question is the decision to take the action
that brings about ‘having’ what ‘we have’.
What ‘we have’ is a working relationship with God, to whom I
am utterly and eternally subservient, with no idolatrous pursuit of other
objectives.
I need to want this, emotionally, and not just recognise it’s
technically advantageous.
I have to be prepared to pay the temporary and nugatory prices
of effort, pain, and sacrifice.
That’s the willingness.
‘Want’ (desire) + ‘willing’ (preparedness to commit to
action) = ‘ready’.
No ‘ready’? No ‘want’ or no ‘willing’.
‘Want’ but no ‘willing’? Immaturity or fantasy.
‘Willing’ but no ‘want’? Unstable and doomed to fail. Emotion
always wins.
‘Want’, ‘decide’, ‘willing’, ‘ready’, ‘steps’ => success.