Choices

“While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.”

– Stephen R. Covey

Consequences are inevitable. Consequences are unavoidable. There is no action on our part that does not have a consequence attached to it. When we make a choice, we put in motion a series of events that will lead somewhere or to something – an endpoint that can be good or bad, beneficial or harmful.

That’s the thing about choices. They have consequences.

We don’t like it. We’d much rather do what we want and bear no responsibility. I’d be happy if eating half a pizza had no strings attached. I’d love it if staying up late watching TV and sleeping until noon led to no bad results. Life would be great! Or at least it would be fun.

But we can’t eliminate consequences. Life is all about the results of our choices. Life is made up of a chain of cause and effect. We choose and then we live with the consequence. That’s the way it is.

We might think it would be fun to live without consequences. We think life would be great. But look at it again. How would we learn? How would we grow? How would we get better from one day to the next if we never felt the pain of a bad move or the joy of a good one?

Here’s the deal. If consequences are inevitable, then why not embrace them? Think about it. Our choices have tremendous power. How about harnessing that power? How about using the inevitability of consequences to improve our lives? That would be the wise move.

Consequences can be your teacher. When we make a choice and experience the result, it’s instructive. Go all the way back to when you were a kid. Did your parents ever give you some instruction to follow, some warning about life? “Don’t touch the hot stove!” “Stay away from them, they’re a bad influence.” “Don’t eat that, you’ll ruin your appetite.”

Now, it would be great if you had followed every wise instruction your parent ever gave you. And as parents, we really want our kids to do the same. But let’s be honest. You and I both know that we didn’t follow every rule our mom and dad laid out. We broke one or two…and we often suffered the consequences. A burnt hand, a bruised bottom, or just a sore stomach. Or maybe, for you, the consequence was much worse.

However you lived out those consequences, you learned, didn’t you? And often those lessons were cemented into your mind even more fully than if you had simply followed the rules. Living out the cause and effect of our choices can be a great tutor for wisdom. It reinforces our past successes and failures, our current situation, and our future goals. Those three areas we always need to keep in mind as we make choices.

Your power to choose is incredibly powerful. How will you use it? Will you let it be a teacher? If you do, then you will find yourself in a much wiser place.