I saw the picture below in a write-up somewhere, and the text attached to it was very inspiring so I thought I'd share.

What we see in the picture below are skeletons of little birds.
These dead birds were in all probability waiting for their mother to bring them food, keep them warm, and hide them from predators.

She obviously never came back, and so they died of starvation and hypothermia.
We will never know what exactly happened to the mother, but we at least know that whatever happened to her also happened to her babies by extension.
If she was killed by a predator, a hunter, a trap, or she broke a wing after a stone throw and so couldn't fly back to her babies we know that whoever killed or hurt her didn't plan to kill her chicks...yet their deaths were the consequence of that action.

No matter what you do always realise that actions have consequences. And while you can determine your choices you cannot determine the consequences of your choices.

For instance when you go after another person's spouse for your personal comfort- to help you pay your bills or for companionship to fill an emotional need- the unintended consequence could be the destruction of another person's family. Whether intended or not they might still be the consequences.

When you work in an organisation and steal what is not yours or inflate contracts there will be unintended consequences.
Several years ago we had a former Minister of Works in Nigeria who had an accident on a road that was badly built- and allegedly built during his tenure in office.
Maybe things would have ended up differently if the funds required to build a world class road were invested in the road as was meant to be.
If you have a younger sibling, ward, or child whose bad behaviour you are excusing today remember that nothing stands alone.

Actions have consequences.

They will birth other actions whose consequences you might regret later.

Let us trust God to help us take time to think about what we do before we do them.
As we make decisions that affect us and those around us may commonsense and the Spirit of God dictate our steps, and may we hold our emotions and not have our emotions holding us.

~ Ugonna Emechebe