What I learn in Avodas Hashem (the service of G-d) from programming - Thinking about the future

In coding, a program which someone wants to last, but which is coded without thinking about how it may be used and changed in the future, will usually not last through many modifications well, unless it is refactored, and recoded with the future in mind.

So too, in the service of Hashem (G-d), in everything which someone does in their life, if it is done with the future in mind, and one thinks of the possible effects (for the good, or G-d forbid, the opposite), we can do better things.

Our sages said this in Pirkei Avos (Ethics of the Fathers) 2:9 (a rough translation): "Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai said to his students, 'Go out and see what is a straight path to which a person should cleave'." Five of his students gave answers, each one giving a different answer. One of the students, Rabbi Shimon, said, "Haro'eh Es Hanolad (he who sees what will come out of his actions)".

In memory of Harav Menachem Mendel A"H ben YLCHT"A Harav Reuven Tzvi Yehudah Sheyichyeh.