We all know the expression, "Actions have consequences." Heck, chances are our mothers used to scold us with that phrase while doling out punishment for what we'd just done.
What if I told you your actions' consequences don't just affect you?
I mean, we all know the obvious ones, like the effect of giving a gift to your spouse, or hanging a kid from a fence by his underwear. No, I'm talking the small things.
That lie you told, the half-truth, the skeletons in your closet. We keep these hidden for a reason - we don't want to offend anyone or make them think differently of us.
I was challenged by a friend, today, when he said that sin has collateral damage. And I thought about that for a bit. It's true. If I were to come and confess a heavy sin that's been weighing on me to my wife, it'd be off my chest, allowing me to be free and to seek restoration and forgiveness, but it'd be weighing her down now. Now she's trying to manage the weight of that sin, dealing with the consequences.
Now, I'm not advocating hiding or sins - rust allows everything to fester and rot from the inside, but I am advocating something I'm beginning to learn: sensitivity.
At this, of course, anyone who knows me well will start laughing. After all, I have the sensitivity of a rock. That being said, though, I'm learning how important it is and how it can help mitigate the secondary, collateral damage of sin.
It's something I'm learning is important. It takes awareness and wisdom, two things I lack, but it's possible.
So, here's to wisdom and understanding. May God grant me both, that I may be a soothing balm to those I wound.
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