As humans we have been given the innate ability to make tens of thousands of choices each day. Whether we fully realize it or not, each of those decisions have either a direct or indirect impact on your day. The alarm clock blares out its morning wakeup call and we either hit the snooze button or we decide to roll on out of bed and into the shower. That choice, simple as it may seem, will impact your morning and potentially the whole day. Think about it, that 10-minute snooze causes you to be off your regular schedule so automatically your day is going to start behind schedule. The ensuing chain of events minor as they may be are just that a chain reaction of sorts. When you do rise from your extended slumber your heart rate is naturally going to run a little faster because you are off schedule. You may have to skip or at best decrease some important aspect of your morning routine such as working out, devotional time, or consequentially passing on breakfast. In much the same line of thinking as "If you give a mouse a cookie..." skipping breakfast leads to making an unwise substitution for your morning meal, i.e. high caffeine, high sugar, low nutritional value option (I'm thinking white cup, green logo). This in turn may cause you to over respond to the hunger pangs and you hyper indulge when it comes time to eat the midday meal. I could go on and on about the simple choice of hitting a ten-minute snooze button, but I'm guessing you can see the picture I'm attempting to paint. The key message here is this, easy decisions, in this case simply touching a snooze button on your phone, lead to numerous outcomes throughout your day. Restating the obvious, life is full of choices and decisions each day, yet the matter at hand is more about whether you will choose what is labelled the "easy wrong" or will you step up and choose the "hard right"?
You can replace hitting the snooze button with pretty much any choice that you will make on a daily basis. You can extend this concept outside of the mundane and apply it to decisions you make surrounding school, work, family, finance, and ultimately your faith. Let’s look at a couple of examples of how the "easy wrong" can lead us towards a hard and bumpy road, while choosing the "hard right" thing to do creates pathways towards resilience, integrity, and ultimately faith. After a late-night ballgame, you make the decision to not complete your homework and hope that the teacher will have mercy on you due to the late ending game. That represents an "easy wrong" while the "hard right" choice clearly is to persevere through the assignment knowing that you really want to make a strong grade in this challenging class. The teeter totter effect of this simple choice in a high school class creates a trajectory for future choices in other classes, and ultimately in life. The "easy wrong" choice develops a sense of self-pity and lack of accountability creating an adult that makes excuses and blames others or circumstances for their life's outcomes. The resilience and fortitude that you develop by choosing the "hard right" of being responsible and accountable to your grades, classes, and teachers spills over into your life as you become someone that others can count on when the going gets tough and the deadline is approaching. For our next example let's close our eyes and place ourselves in a situation. You're driving down the interstate and up ahead you see a car sitting off the road with a flat tire. As you get closer you realize the sidelined auto belongs to an elderly couple who appear to be struggling with the situation. Do you choose the "easy wrong" and excuse yourself out of stopping to aid? "They probably have already called their family to come help." Or, "I would stop, but I'm already running late for my dinner date." The "hard right" in situations such as this has us thinking about what we would want someone to do if it was our teenage daughter stranded on the highway. The "easy wrong" in any similar situation like this feeds a "me first" personality that often justifies away accountability by excusing ourselves out of civic duty or even blaming the victim so we don't have to get involved. The "hard right" fosters a sense of service before self and a servant leadership mindset that we must instill in those we come in contact with each day.
At the end of the day the "easy wrong" and the "hard right" choices we make have a far-reaching impact on the life of each individual, way beyond one homework assignment or a little snooze button support every now and then. Joshua, who followed Moses as the leader of the Israelites made his own declaration of choosing the "hard right" near the end of his life. "Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:14-15. The "easy wrong" here is live life for self. No sacrifice, no service, no placing God first before the material world. The true "hard right" choice is all about deciding who you will serve. The more we commitment the easier life becomes, in the hard times, in the rough moments, we have God's promise that he will never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus had a choice to make when he faced Calvary's Cross, the "easy wrong" choice would have been to let us face life on our own, the "hard right" choice cost him pain, suffering and ultimately a cruel death on the cross. His "easy wrong" choice would have meant life without the promise of salvation for mankind. His "hard right" choice gave us a chance to have life eternally with Him. You may have already made the choice to give your life to God and you understand that you will still face those "easy wrong" and "hard right" choices each day. Or, you may not have ever made the decision to follow God and give your life as a living sacrifice in service to Him. Regardless, be certain, we all will face "easy wrongs" and "hard rights" throughout our lives. God's word will guide you as you navigate life's choices. Follow the example of the One who made the "hard right" choice to give His life for you and for me. "My Father, if it can be done, take away what is before Me. Even so, not what I want but what You want” Matthew 26:39.
Coach Carter
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