You are free to choose, but you are not free from the consequences of your choice.

Making a decision is, in many cases, almost thoughtless. For example, will I read Brian’s musing today or not? I would presume you put almost zero thought into that decision, it is a simple yes or no. That said, what if what I am talking about on a particular day is of extreme importance to you in your world under your circumstances? What if, by chance, something I chose to write about happens to be in the direct bullseye of something of extreme significance in your life? If, per chance, this revelation were so insightful as to cause you to rethink your position about something that is weighing heavily upon your soul, you might not be able to make the same choice you were going to make, prior to reading what I have said.

I make the above statement with zero sense of self importance. In my life, I read all sorts of things. Most go in one ear and out the other, but every once in awhile, I find one that can make me feel like I was kicked in the stomach and have had all of the wind knocked out of me! Something so poignant, something of significant revelation as to force me to stop whatever I was doing in that area of my life and change direction. It is not common, but it does happen to me at least a few times per year.

I have always appreciated the humorous aphorism: Sometimes it is appropriate to burn bridges, especially if there are hordes of zombies chasing you! But comedy not withstanding, sometimes we do opt to burn a bridge. In a choice like that, we are sometimes left on the opposite shore, staring backwards at a choice made that was not necessarily what we expected. The bridge has been burned, the option to return is removed, and we are left only with the new choices ahead of us. This happens in personal relationships, professional relationships and more.

Choice is a miraculous thing. It is not always an option in life. If you look back through history, choice is something that has gone through countless evolutions. Freedoms being bestowed and stolen in myriad examples, and continuously evolving. But if one variable is consistent, human beings crave choice. It is inherent in our internal beings to opt for whatever it is that we desire.

To most, a version of heaven is one in which you can do what you wish, be whom you wish, eat what you wish, and pursue every last desire of your choosing. All of these represent choice.

But, here on Earth, choice is a core option. You can make a choice and pursue it with all you have got, and perhaps your choice will bear fruit, and other times, perhaps it will cause you to have setbacks. And in some extreme cases, perhaps it can cause danger or harm to you or those you love.

I invite you then, on this beautiful Monday, to take a moment and reflect on the countless choices you have made that have led you to where you are now. Some of the consequences of your choices have been tremendously good, and others, not so much. You are living in a place and an era in which choice is readily available. So much so that you take it for granted. If this seems trivial to you, contemplate the choices that people had inside a concentration camp, or the options left to the women and children in Afghanistan right this very minute, and compare those choices to what you are considering today. Even the little ones like what will I make for dinner? Or what is on tv tonight?

Choice is truly a miraculous thing. Something that must never be taken for granted. Something that carries so much value as to be almost the most important of the options in our world after our survival needs are taken into consideration.

And, as a result, the consequences of those choices, must carry equal, if not greater value or importance because of the ramifications that those consequences bring.

Make wise choices so that the consequences of those choices continue to elevate your existence in countless ways.

Happy Monday!

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