CHOICES AND CONSEQUENCES

When we are very young it only takes a few testings to discover that by choosing to do something there will be an immediate or delayed consequence.

Touching something hot brings an immediate reaction to our nervous system and sometimes a delayed reaction to our epidural layering.

Spilling milk can make one cry and lessons on not putting the glass too close to the edge of the table and wiping up said milk are sure to follow.

Falling down on grass leaves a stain, but falling on cement causes knees to bleed. The first takes but a few washings to cure, but knees take longer to heal.

One cookie from the jar will be missed by observant mothers and subsequent treats will be consequently restricted.

Somewhere along the line, somehow we begin to believe that with the maturation process we gain immunity against consequences having to follow choices.

We deceive ourselves into thinking that our concentration level while studying on our school homework is just as high whether we are watching television or listening to music.

We deceive ourselves into thinking that junk food will sustain health and starve off malnutrition.

We deceive ourselves into thinking that mind controlling substances relax us and help us cope with life’s stresses much like earlier generations were convinced smoking tobacco was good for the lungs.

We deceive ourselves into thinking there is no consequence to ignoring moral standards and that momentary pleasure will turn into lasting happiness.

We might get away with the lament, ‘I am not hurting anyone but myself’ if this denial between choices and consequences didn't accelerate and elevate itself into decisions which have the potential of effecting most of Humanity. Somehow we are able to convince ourselves that we really are an island and our choices not only have no effect on the consequences of our own lives, but for certain have no effect on others.

While protecting our right to our ‘standard of living’ we have little remorse about how our choices will submerge multiple generations to come in staggering amounts of debt.

While protecting our right to use up and waste the ‘resources of mother earth’ we give little thought to the environment our progeny will inherit.

We spend ourselves into deeper and deeper debt for that which will ‘rust and corrupt’ with little regard for the negative legacy and clean up job we are leaving behind.

We build bigger and bigger mansions while ignoring the homeless lining the streets of our cities and canals, believing that our riches keep us well away from having to pay the piper.

The last time I ‘went a pondering’ through this choice and consequence activity the thought came to me that we are much like the proverbial cat. We waste our nine lives on triviality, always thinking another will follow, when suddenly we are face to face with a real life- altering event only to find we have no lives left.

It is probably worth pondering once and again, how many times and how many ways can we deny the fact that our choices have consequences, spending our nows and futures hoping for miracles which will save us and others from the consequences of our choices?

We need to revisit pondering upon how the choices we make have pre-determined and long lasting and spreading consequences and that today and all our tomorrows mortality will demand we make choices which will inevitably be followed by the assigned consequences.

There is another aspect of choices which is much like the necessity of depositing funds in a bank before writing checks or withdrawals which can alter consequences dramatically.

A deposit of study, learning and experience usually precedes knowledgeable, wise and meaningful contributions to society and help us avoid becoming a drain on the resources of others.

A deposit of a variety of healthy and nutritious foods usually precedes strength and longevity and can help us avoid disease.

A deposit of control and abstinence usually precedes mental alertness and wards off life numbing brain damage.

A deposit of faithfulness and integrity precedes prolonged and happy relationships and can hopefully help us avoid dysfunctional relationships.

A word of warning needs to be added. The finger pointing lesson – you know whenever you point your finger at others there are three others pointing back at you. There is a great temptation and correlating ability which we seem to gain in life to be able to see the ignoring of choices always leading to consequences in those who govern us, friends and family members and the rest of humanity, while at the same time leisurely going about never counting the cost of our own choices.

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings (or cursings) are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing (or cursing) from God, it is by obedience (or disobedience) to that law upon which it is predicated. (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20–21).

THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY