Have you ever stopped to stare at one of these scientific pendulum contraptions?

…to look at the way the spheres move? …how they collide with one another? …how they are impacted by one another?

Pick up the device (it’s known as “Newton’s Cradle”) to rock it back and forth, and all the spheres will stay stuck to one another and move in perfect harmony.

Pick up one ball, and, via the outside force of fingers releasing a ball, it will connect with the second ball to create a dynamic which impacts the remaining three.

Pick up two balls, and, when released, they will stay together and work together impacting and absorbing the motion of the remaining three balls.

Even if shaken, the balls will quickly find their way back into order.

The response varies depending on the force and how it is used, but there is still a response. There is always a response. …even when the motion slows and the balls come to a complete rest, there is still a motion happening in the group.

In one of these little scientific devices, we can observe harmony and how the spheres seem to work WITH one another!

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But something else happens, too. If you play with the device long enough, you will see that the balls aren’t always working in harmony with one another, but that they are reacting to the force exerted on them by the other balls.

Life.

Life does this to us.

Another’s choices, words, actions or deeds hit us hard, and we are caught in the fallout.

Our own thoughts lead to choices, words, actions, or deeds that change life forever — for us and for those around us.
…never to be the same again…
Time and forgiveness — offered or received — will help, but life will still always be different.

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So, is it harmony or fallout?

When life impacts us,
when another’s choices impact us,
when life changes forever,
how do we respond?

We do have a choice.

We’re not just a metal ball hanging on a string from a wire frame bracing for the impact. We’re not just a sphere stuck in the middle waiting to see what those around us do.

We do have a choice. We have a choice in how to respond to what has been done to us. And, if we’ve done it to another, we have a choice in how to proceed forward with the impact we have made.

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Life is about choices.

As much as we want to blame another person, fill our thoughts with “what-ifs,” dream of a rewind, wish it away or ignore it all, that’s not what we’ve been given in this present moment.

Life is about choices, and today is about choices. …making choices that lead to living the kind of life where joy, peace and hope can take root and take hold.

The choices we make today can create a harmony around us, or, the choices we make today can create yet another level of fallout.

I need to choose wisely…we all do.

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