Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Cause and Effect

Have you ever experienced a period in your life where you seem to get the same message over and over? Like, you read something that gets you to thinking, and then the next thing you know, a friend or coworker brings up the same thing. Then, you go to church services the next week or so, and there it is again – the same message?

I am in one of those patterns. The message? Cause and effect. I have been thinking about it so much that I had to come up with a definition.

A cause is something that makes something else happen. Out of two events, it is the event that happens first. To determine the cause, ask the question "Why Did it Happen?"

An effect is what happens as a result of the cause. Of two related events, it’s the one that happens second or last. To determine the effect, ask the question "What Happened?"

As an experiment, I have been evaluating different activities, behaviors, and attitudes to determine the cause and effect in my own life.

Exercise.

Food choices.

Loving my husband, children, …

Worship.

Giving.

Serving.

Socializing.

My challenge? My challenge is making certain that my cause is the love of Jesus Christ. I want that to be the something that makes everything happen. Then the effect will always be the best one. So, as an example, when I make the choice to exercise and eat healthy foods, I hope the effect to be a healthy body. And even though eating right and exercise is part of the cause (or the something that will make the healthy body happen) what I really want the cause to be my love for God. He gave me this body and desires that I take care of it. That is the cause of my heart. The same goes for all areas of my life. It adds a deeper meaning to this verse in 1 Corinthians 10.
Verse 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Amen.

3 comments:

pam said...

You go girl! It is too bad sometimes that wishing doesn't make some things happen on their own....fight the good fight!

Mary Ann said...

glad you are blogging again!

Cindy said...

This happens to me too. I think the Lord has to repeat the message to me from several sources because I just don't get it the first time. lol