Recovering Our Losses

We all do some wise things in life, and we all do some foolish things. We are constantly facing critical decisions, some of which we recognize as such, and some of which seem to be of relatively little importance, but which may have far-reaching effects. And it is quite characteristic of humankind that whenever we pass up an opportunity or make a bad decision, there is always something of a secret hope in our hearts that our mistakes are not conclusive that we will have another chance to make other choices that will offset the ones on which we have defaulted. In a sense this is true. It is true that man in his eternal march always inherently has the right of choice. It is true that we may always repent so long as we don’t let ourselves descend below the possibility of repentance. And it is true that merely because we made a bad decision yesterday is no reason why we cannot make a better decision today. But it is also true that making bad choices has its lasting effect upon our lives. And even though we may turn back from an unwise decision, there are still far-reaching reasons why we should guard ourselves against making them—for he who persistently makes wrong choices surely isn’t going to progress as far as he who consistently makes right choices. The prodigal son repented and was welcomed back with rejoicing. But this didn’t restore the time he had lost or the things he had wasted. Time lost, and journeys traveled in the wrong direction are all subtracted from the measure of our highest possibilities, even though eternity lies before us. This is the life in which the work of this life it to be done. The life that lies beyond will have its own work to be accomplished, its own decisions to be made, its own distance to be traveled. And when we get on a wrong road, when we make an unwise decision, the sooner we do what we have to do to get back on the right road, the less we are likely to lose.