Posts Tagged: fresh starts

“CONSEQUENCES AND FRESH STARTS”

On September 29, 2018 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I believe in two contradictory things—consequences and fresh starts.  They are always in tension, but sometimes, they are in an almost unbearable tension.

Take the hypothetical case of someone who is being considered for a very high (but hypothetical) position in a very hypothetical country.  This hypothetical candidate is accused of a serious crime which may or may not be hypothetical.  His accuser seems quite believable and sure of her accusation.  He seems quite certain of his own innocence.

His hypothetical wrong-doing was a long time ago.  He was young.  His accuser was young.  Should we key in on this hypothetical person experiencing the consequences of his past actions, or should we invoke the law of fresh starts?

This is not hypothetical when it comes to my own life.  I have both experienced serious (and, no doubt, well deserved) consequences for my past actions, and I have been given a fresh start.  Both have been important.

Some people that I love (most notably, my wife) have emphasized a fresh start.  Others (most notably, my children) have emphasized consequences.  One of the consequences is that my children don’t have anything to do with me.  My wife and I, however, are still together.  In fact, we are more in love than ever.

I wish that there were a clear dividing line between consequences and fresh starts.  The “were” in the preceding sentence was very intentional, and suggests the unreality of my wish.  There is no such dividing line.  It is never clear, except in entirely hypothetical cases, which way a person, a family, a country, should go.

God, grant us enough consequences to take our own wrong-doing and that of others seriously enough.  Grant us also enough fresh starts to keep us from ultimate despair.

,
Follow on Feedly