Decisions, decisions

35,000.

That is the estimated number of decisions the average American adult makes each day.

According to Cornell University, 226 of these have to do with food, in case you were wondering. Many of these decisions are barely perceivable and a lot are very insignificant-what mug I chose to drink my morning coffee from, for example. (does that count as one of my 226?)

But often seemingly insignificant choices we make, do have unforeseen rippling effects. My decision to go to the grocery store ends up in praying for a friend in the parking lot. When I decided to go to the store at that particular time, I didn’t know it was going to have an encouraging impact on anyone else.  (By the way, Cornell people, does grocery shopping also count as a food decision?) So whether in my personal life or in my role as the Director of Mercy Market, I frequently have no idea what impact my apparent “little” decisions are going to have.

And that is why I am writing this blog today.

As we move into the new year, I am very aware of the many decisions that we will be making as we embrace once again the responsibility and privilege of Mercy Market. Some decisions are obviously major (such as going on an international trip to visit our partners) and we don’t take those lightly.

We pray and ask for prayer.

We consult and plan and make the decision carefully. But as I think about all those other choices; all those decisions we make that seem insignificant, I am aware that they can have an unforeseen impact. Unforeseen, that is, to the human eye.  Because we at Mercy Market believe in an all-knowing God, we know that He sees the end result of each decision we make. And because we believe that this is His work; this work of restoring the broken, rescuing the enslaved, giving hope to the despairing, we want His work to be done His way.

And for that, we need His direction.

So today I am writing to ask those of you also believe if you would pray with us. This week we would appreciate your focused prayers for Mercy Market and the decisions we will be making. Each day this week we will post on Facebook and Instagram a specific request. But if you are unable to access those sources, here are some of the decisions we will make through the year for which we would value your prayers:

Who?

Who should we partner with? We have guidelines that help us make this decision on a practical level, but we want to be wise in the number of partners we commit to and sensitive to those who may not quite fit our criteria.

What?

What products should we buy? Even once we have committed to a group or individual, we have to decide which of their products we will buy. We evaluate the quality of work, the price of the product, and how well we think it will sell in our market. We want to help as many as we can, while also making decisions that keep Mercy Market sustainable.

How?

How do we sell the product most effectively? How do we balance our time? How do we know where and when should be our next international trip? How can we do more to help our partners with the designing of products that are more suitable for our market?

Should we actively solicit more help in the office and for home shows?  Should we consider relocating out of our “home office”? (i.e. our upstairs bedroom)

We will be making these types of decisions and many more (35,000?) in the coming year.

Would you ask God, the One Who sees the outcome of each decision we make, to guide us in the ways He wants us to go? To give us His wisdom and His direction so that we can effectively do our part in bringing the compassionate, tangible love of God to a hurting world?

And now I think I will work on my 226 food decisions for the day and go reheat my coffee mug.