Consequential V Inconsequential

What has con­se­quences? What is incon­se­quen­tial? Those are the two ques­tions con­stantly on the men­tal scales of my mind. The first is always heav­ier. The dif­fi­culty comes in deter­min­ing the dif­fer­ence. Check­ing the oil level in your car is incon­se­quen­tial if there is enough oil in it, but it has great con­se­quences if there is not enough. It is even more con­se­quen­tial if you do not respond to the low read­ing.
The scales tip one way or another all day long. What some­one thinks of you is prob­a­bly incon­se­quen­tial, unless he or she is your boss. How you dress is no big deal, unless you plan to be taken seri­ously by the peo­ple around you. Any­thing you say to another per­son has con­se­quences. No won­der Jesus said we would be judged by every­thing we say. Words are never neu­tral. They always have con­se­quences.
The incon­se­quen­tial may be para­dox­i­cal. Tak­ing time off or tak­ing a hol­i­day may mean that you do a lot of incon­se­quen­tial things, but not doing those incon­se­quen­tial things may have emo­tional con­se­quences. This is not always easy to dis­cern. Your most triv­ial act may be the most impor­tant thing you do that day. You just do not know until a lit­tle time elapses. A smile, a “good morn­ing” or an approv­ing nod may be the action hold­ing most con­se­quence to another per­son. We do not know.
I look around my desk. Clean­ing it up is a triv­ial pur­suit, until I find a note that tells me of some pend­ing appoint­ment that I have for­got­ten. This can be one of those “pearl of great price” moments. Occa­sion­ally, I find unused gift cer­tifi­cates in some of the desk rub­ble. Eureka! The gift cer­tifi­cate is to the cof­fee shop! I think I will call some friends!
A “cup of water” in Jesus name may seem incon­se­quen­tial, or it may save a soul. Never for­get the econ­omy of the mys­te­ri­ous God when weigh­ing the scales.