Consequences

We are given many freedoms, both by God and by our government. Both of which I hold dear. Along with that freedom comes choice. That, I truly cherish. Everyone has the freedom of choice. Some people choose wisely, some make stupid decisions. But it is their choice. Not mine.

Choices are decisions that spur further actions and consequences. We think of consequences as bad things typically. But that is not true-as a society we choose to only talk about consequences in a negative light. I am teaching my boys that every action has a consequence, it may be good, it may be bad. I’m teaching them to think of the consequence at the beginning of the process, at the point they are contemplating the choices available.

For example, when my boys get mad at each other, here is what I’d like to see in their minds:
When I punch my brother in the face, my anger will be immediately released, but a likely consequence is I will get punched back. Is that what I want the next sequence of this chain of events to be?
I could use words to express my anger, the anger will be released much more slowly, but possibly work out the issue with my brother. A likely consequence of that is we will get to play together since no one will be mad. Yeah, that’s the option I choose.

We are born sinners and each of us has our own specific weakness where we are more likely to sin. What I struggle with-my temper and speaking before I think, you may not. Some people’s weakness is theft, some people it’s adultery.

My point is, even though I struggle with losing my temper and saying things before I speak, by no means it is out of my control. I control every word and action that comes out of my body. I make a choice every day to keep my mouth shut and THINK before something comes out of it, or I choose to let it fly. I make that decision. The consequence of thinking first is I can keep friends a lot better as an adult than I did as a child when I let it fly. I like that consequence. Do I mess up? Sure, I’m only human. But I also understand there are consequences to popping off to someone that makes me mad, so I keep making the choice day after day to keep my opinions to myself when the consequence of voicing those opinions does not give me the outcome I desire.

Let’s put this in current context with the criminal shooting last week and the loss of innocent lives in a movie theatre.

We have the freedom to own guns. We have a choice to use those guns to kill animals to feed our family and protect our life and property from harm or to use them in rage to kill other humans. There are consequences to the decisions on how we choose to use guns. Consequences here in the laws of the land we live in, as well as consequences from the law of God our Father.

I find it interesting that a knee-jerk reaction to an event like this is to somehow ban guns. To take away the freedom of all to own guns because someone made a choice to use those guns to kill in a fit of rage is equitable to taking away the freedom to have children because someone chose to hurt their child. Or to take away the freedom to drive a car because someone chose to drive recklessly  and caused an accident that inflicted pain on an innocent person.

There should be swift consequences to those criminal choices. However, the consequence should not be to take away the freedoms of all because of the choice of the few. We are all accountable for our choices and should suffer the consequences for our decisions, both good and bad.

We need to be better at letting the proper consequences follow the actions the spurred it. Freedom and choice must stand. Appropriate consequences must be delivered.