THE WHY QUESTION ( PART 5)

ACTIONS AND CONSEQUENCES

These past months of my practice as a legal practitioner has shown to me like never before how our choices, actions, inactions and ill actions can have far reaching consequences; and how some of these consequences do not just affect us but those we truly care for, those we do not know and perhaps those yet to be born.

I sat at the court room that day observing the proceedings of the custody case for two children. As the drama unfolded between the couple who once claimed to love each other, I watched as the children responded, some of the things they said, and it hit me like never before how our seemingly unimportant choices can live with and beyond us.

I guess at different points in our lives we have done things that we are not proud of, some costly and others minute. Like living in denial over an issue that is so glaring and should be confronted which bounces back at us; not taking that sick child to the hospital for proper medical care until the issue escalates beyond our control; submitting to the societal pressure of being too old and getting married to a person you know you should not have married; moving with the wrong company; sexually assaulting another person; procrastination; nonchalant and unethical behavior at our work places that can result to severe penalties and the likes. The list is endless. If you are looking at all of these and you feel you have fallen short in one or more of them, I want to assure you that you are not alone in this. I remember joking with myself sometime this year that the number of mistakes I have made in this year alone is enough to last me a life time.

The good news is our mistakes, actions and inactions should not be the end of our story. My teacher once said to me, the best time to know a thing is probably the day you were born but the next best time is now. Great men are not men without mistakes but men who have learnt to put their mistakes behind and learn from them. Do not beat yourself up over those wrong choices. They were in the past. You have a now, use it. We are all a building under construction. God has forgiven you. Embrace his forgiveness and forgive yourself. Believe in your best. People may laugh at you; you probably might serve a jail time, but you know you have moved on, you have made peace with yourself and your Creator and you have learnt your lesson. This is what really matters.

Hebrews 10:14 says,

“For by one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.”

We are being made holy people; we receive the grace that has been extended to us and extend same grace to our fellow men. I believe that I am what I am by the grace of God; hence I extend this same grace to others. I believe in the best of every man. What kind of a man would you be having received the grace of God? One who throws darts at the wounded or fallen? Or one who builds up and lends the hand of help and fellowship

What then happens to the victims of our mistakes? Those who share in the consequences of our actions?Those who get to live with the brokenness that they know nothing about?

To be continued…