After breakfast this morning, Franklin the Pup was anxious to go outside. He sat by the back door ready to run into his fenced-in back yard. He looked up, waiting for me to release him, and then leaped through the door with excitement. He ran toward our pear tree to check for birds. As I often do, I stepped onto our patio to watch Franklin and examine the morning sky. There was a slight drizzle. It had been raining, but since I hadn’t had my coffee yet, I didn’t realize the conditions until my bare feet met the chilled, wet mat outside our door.
The cardinals and finches I normally look for decided to stay hidden and my feet were cold, so I stepped back inside. The problem was that I didn’t realize exactly how wet my feet were until I took my first step onto the hardwood floor of our sunroom. Like stepping onto a patch of ice, my foot immediately slipped out from under me, catching the toes of my other foot in the rocks on our patio. I was able to grab the door jam and avert complete disaster, but the incident made me think; I had not recognized the consequences of my actions when I was taking them. It was only in the midst of falling that I understood my mistake.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:7-8 NIV)
The issue is that we don’t always recognize what we’ve sown until it’s actually time to reap. Like stepping onto the slippery floor with wet feet, many of my choices in life have come without thinking through the natural result of those choices. It sometimes seems as if I’ve reached into a bag of mixed seeds and just thrown down whatever happens to be in my hand. As we learn to seek God’s wisdom over our own, we will begin to be more aware of our choices and reap less negative consequences.
In what ways have you learned to be aware of the choices you’re making? What steps can you take to more actively seek God’s wisdom in making choices?
