Would you rather be right or safe?

Would you rather be right or safe?

This is a hard lesson that I found myself in this week. Once as a teacher and once as a learner.

My husband's variation on the question was, "Would you rather be right or dead?"

My little friend's question was, "What if someone's been picking on me for three years?"



To my husband the answer was right. To my little friend my answer was safe. 

I think the answer is more complicated than either of these.
 
I feel like you always want to feel safe; to keep others safe; to protect what's real and what you love. But sometimes taking risks produces greater results than taking the safe route.

But I also think that as humans we want to be right. We go through school looking for all the answers to tests; to learn all we can to pass along that knowledge to other family, friends, students, children, colleagues...

In both situations the answer was about making wise choices. It's a phrase that I use frequently, especially when teaching. Make a wise choice not to use a push pin as a toy; make a wise choice not to run and use a carpet as slip and slide; make a wise choice not to eat onions and garlic and bread when you're allergic to them. 

Sometimes we want something so badly we don't think about the consequences. Sometimes we want to play God - or put limitations or expectations on God when we have a request - without thinking through the end result if things go exactly OUR way.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16 

Our lives, our bodies, our days were made just for us. It was not promised that we would be safe, healthy, or live a life without problems. But we are promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). When we cry, when we struggle, when we celebrate; God is there in those moments. We are charged to look around and make wise choices, to show love, and to have a grateful heart.  

So would you rather be right or safe?