By Cristie Gardner

Albert Einstein is credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

And if he didn’t say it… well, he should have!

If there’s one law you can always count on, it’s the Law of Cause and Effect. This law gives us confidence that our actions lead to reliable results. We can set a clear target — an effect — and then take the exact steps to reach it.

Recently, we went to the garden center and bought MANY packets of seeds. While there, we chatted with a woman who clearly knew her stuff. (And so do we — we’re Gardners after all 😄 — but she still knew more.) She told us which plants we could put in the ground now, and which ones had to wait until the snow melted off the smaller mountains to our west. Every year, we get a little better at gardening because we love the idea of becoming more self-sufficient. And each year, we take action to improve on the year before.

Last year, though, we had a little… surprise. We started our garden later than usual and bought plants that looked like — and were labeled as — certain varieties, but ended up being something entirely different. Instead of zucchini, we grew crookneck squash. Instead of red, juicy watermelon, our melons were yellow inside. Our butternut squash plants never produced a single squash, even though the year before we harvested nearly a hundred.

The culprit? Someone mislabeled the plants. Because they assumed what they were and tagged them incorrectly, we ended up with a very different harvest than we’d planned.

Gardening is full of life lessons, especially about the Law of Cause and Effect: What we plant is what we harvest. I cannot grow watermelon if I plant corn.

The same is true in life. When I choose a course of action, I am also choosing the natural result of that course if I continue on it. Sure, I can abandon a path midstream, but I cannot expect a different destination if I keep walking the same road.

Looking back, I can pinpoint decisions that changed the entire course of my life. Had I chosen differently, my life today would look nothing like it does now. That’s the power of Cause and Effect — it’s the law upon which all other laws in God’s universe stand.

What if I had never said “yes” when my high school friend asked me on a date?
What if I had stayed silent during that school meeting when an ethical issue came up?
What if I had slept in that morning?
What if I had ignored my burning desire to start a podcast and share my message — my legacy — with my children and grandchildren?

What if? What if? What if?

Benjamin Franklin wrote:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

If we looked at cause and effect only through the lens of the past, we could easily end up discouraged—or even hopeless—about the future. After all, as the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20.” Maybe that’s why, here in the year 2020, it’s more important than ever to be intentional with our choices.

It’s so easy to see where we skipped steps. Easy to spot the places we could have chosen better. We can wring our hands and dwell on the mistakes—on what came from our negligence, laziness, or thoughtlessness—and then rake ourselves over the coals with regret.

I once wrote a poem about that, and I’d like to share it with you.

Embracing the Present, by Cristie Gardner

The past has passed. It's over, Forget it.
To dwell on it, ponder: complain or regret it,
Will only prove futile, for you have gone on.
And the time that has passed is now time that is gone.
You cannot move forward if you are behind it:
To pause, or stand still, or attempt to rewind it
will render you hopeless and helpless and caught.
If you've traded your substance for all that is naught.
Move on then, with vigor, full measure and more,
Move into the present as never before.
Move far from the goal that would lead you astray
Embrace all around you and live for today!

The magic of the Law of Cause and Effect is this: just as we can look back and see how different choices would have changed the trajectory of our lives, we can also look forward to the goals we desire—and create a pathway to reach them. We can literally be creators of our lives, deliberately moving in the direction of our dreams. Even when the outcome involves others’ choices, we can still start moving toward what we want, prayerfully and thoughtfully taking action. We can study the examples of others, see where their decisions have led, and choose to follow suit.

The key is to be intentional with every choice we make—rather than living life by default. But remember, living by default is still a choice, and it still falls under the Law of Cause and Effect. If I choose to sleep in instead of getting up to work out, my long-term results will follow that course. Small, consistent actions—good or bad—build up over time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.”

For every effect, there is a definite cause. And for every cause, a definite effect. Your thoughts, behaviors, and actions produce specific outcomes. This truth is incredibly empowering—because if we realize we’ve been heading toward a result we don’t want, we can change our course.

J.E.B. Spredemann put it well: “Choices made, whether bad or good, follow you forever and affect everyone in their path one way or another.”

And Anthony Liccione reminds us: “Burning bridges behind you is understandable. It's the bridges before us that we burn, not realizing we may need to cross, that brings regret.”

Our thoughts are creative. Each one carries the seed of creation, shaping our speech, behaviors, and actions. Every thought we plant in the soil of our consciousness will eventually bear fruit—for better or worse.

Another powerful truth about the Law of Cause and Effect is that while we can’t control every circumstance, we can always choose our response. We can’t change the past. We can’t dictate exactly how others respond to us (though we can influence them). And we can’t always get what we want exactly when we want it. But we can choose how we move forward.

Sometimes events in our lives are the result of someone else’s actions. When I was at Brigham Young University, one of my dear friends was killed by a drunk driver on her way home from work. People can say cruel things that wound confidence. People can cause deep harm—physically, emotionally, or mentally. When we’ve been through such pain, we must give ourselves the grace and compassion to heal. Counseling can offer new perspective. But ultimately, we decide: will we live as victims or as victors? Others in similar situations have chosen both paths. The choice of how we live is always ours, as long as we have life.

Because I believe God has a definite plan for us—and sees past, present, and future as one—I trust that what happens will be for my best, if I fully engage in creating the causes that lead to the effects I seek.

“When two things occur successively we call them cause and effect if we believe one event made the other one happen. If we think one event is the response to the other, we call it a reaction. If we feel that the two incidents are not related, we call it a mere coincidence. If we think someone deserved what happened, we call it retribution or reward, depending on whether the event was negative or positive for the recipient. If we cannot find a reason for the two events occurring simultaneously or in close proximity, we call it an accident. Therefore, how we explain coincidences depends on how we see the world. Is everything connected, so that events create resonances like ripples across a net? Or do things merely co-occur and we give meaning to these co-occurrences based on our belief system? Lieh-tzu's answer: It's all in how you think.”

A young woman once told her mother how hard life had become. She was tired, worn down, and ready to give up. It seemed that whenever she solved one problem, another rose to take its place. Her mother took her to the kitchen, filled three pots with water, and set them to boil. Into the first she placed carrots, into the second eggs, and into the last, herbal tea leaves...

She let them boil in silence. Twenty minutes later, she turned off the burners. The carrots went into one bowl, the eggs into another, and the tea into a third. She turned to her daughter.
“Tell me, what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and tea,” her daughter replied.

Her mother invited her closer. “Feel the carrots.”
They were soft.
“Now break an egg.”
Beneath the shell was a firm, hard-boiled center.
Finally, she offered a sip of the tea. Its aroma was rich; the taste, warm and full.

“What does it mean, Mother?”

Her mother explained, “Each faced the same adversity—boiling water—but each responded differently. The carrot entered strong and unyielding but became soft and weak. The egg began fragile, with a thin shell protecting its liquid center. Yet after the boiling, its heart hardened. The tea leaves? They were different. They transformed the water itself.”

Then came the question that lingered:
“Which are you? When adversity knocks, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or tea leaves?”

Think about it:
Am I the carrot—appearing strong, but losing my strength when life turns up the heat?
Am I the egg—starting with a tender spirit but, after loss, heartbreak, or hardship, becoming bitter and unyielding inside?
Or am I like the tea leaves—changing the very circumstance that brings the pain, releasing my best qualities in the hottest water?

If you are like the tea, adversity becomes the catalyst for growth. You rise above the trial. You transform the moment.

Zlatoslava Petrak said, "You are the master of your life—you are the master of your mind—you have the power to change the way you think and feel. You have the power in you to achieve your goals, to become the person you want to be, and to live the life of your dreams."

Life can be rich with adventure, learning, and growth—or it can drift by, empty and filled with regret. We choose. The power of choice is central to every law God has given, and it governs the Law of Cause and Effect.