"Decisions, Decisions" by Thomas Jeffries

Part 1; Part 2

Schwartz offers plenty of advice for today's overwhelmed choosers, such as reducing deliberations about unimportant decisions; controlling unrealistic expectations; spending less time regretting past decisions; and, unless you're truly dissatisfied, sticking with choices that have satisfied in the past. The common thread to all his suggestions is "satisfice more and maximize less."

While these are all worthwhile ideas, the best suggestions are the
ones Schwartz and Straus don't mention: Pray. Search the Scriptures. Seek the advice of mature Christians. Trust God. As I explained in Part 1, I am convinced that He is more than able to let us know when we're making a wrong choice, and do so before it's too late. So instead of "satisfice more and maximize less," why not adopt a new mantra: "trust God more and fear commitment less"? Why not treat a serious relationship as if it could be "the one," trusting that God will make it clear if it's a mistake?

The alternative is to view romance like an apartment lease — the commitment only lasts 6-12 months, and then you're free to move out and move on. Sure, you'll never have to bear the responsibility of a
mortgage, but you'll also spend the rest of your life paying rent with nothing to show for it.

As for me, I knew I wanted to stop renting about two months after I started dating the woman who would become my wife. Yet even though we were obviously in love, we wanted to make sure we were making the right decision. We prayed about our relationship, both by ourselves and together. We sought the opinions of our pastor and mutual friends. And we trusted God.

We also refused to be maximizers. No more shopping for better ptions. After all, the only way to know if our relationship would last a lifetime was to treat it like it could.

We've been together ever since.