As a pastor, I spend a fair amount of my time counseling others.  I also hear many stories of people’s lives that are in very difficult places or that are struggling.  What is often clear is that what is happening to many of  the people that are needing counsel and that are struggling is that their scenario is preventable (not always, but most of the time).  The reason these scenarios are preventable is that most people end up on paths that are very common and worn and that have predictable endings.  There are many things that feed into the predictable, I have seen this before endings.  But here is one of the most consistent reasons people end up in pain.  They pretend that what they are doing now does not affect where they will be then.   Our current lives are pesky in that they follow us into our future.  Let me submit something.  Stop pretending that your present which will become your past will not affect your future.   I know that in my life where I pretended like what I was doing today would not impact my tomorrow, I was just flat out deceiving myself and eventually the bill showed up.  When you think through what you want in marriage, your kids, your career, your habits, your retirement – please consider your now.