Dear Friends,
"Sometimes we listen, sometimes we learn, and sometimes we
lose." I thought about these words the day after listening to one of our
church members remind me of an incident that took place years ago while we were
both involved in another church.
We were at a family retreat and I was enjoying some time playing
catch with my son, Tommy who was a pitcher. Someone yelled out to my
friend's son, "I bet you could never hit Tommy." And that was all
that was needed for my friend's son to grab a bat, step to the plate and accept
the challenge. Now my son, who went on to be a college pitcher, could throw
pretty hard, even at age 12, and I thought to myself this kid could never hit
Tommy. My friend, who was the boy's father, says, "Tom, you better
put on a mask," but I responded, Gary, my son is so fast that your
son will never touch him. Well, I am sure you already sense where the story is
going. Tommy winds up, throws his first pitch, a fast ball of course, and my
friend's son swings, and hits a foul tip that gets me straight between the
eyes. As I embarrassedly lifted the broken frames that were hanging from one
ear, I thought to myself, "I guess I should have listened to my
friends advice."
Yes "sometimes we listen, sometimes we learn and sometimes we
lose."
How true it is that we often are too proud to listen to the
advice that comes from another. We can fail to learn valuable lessons because
our pride refuses to admit that someone might know something that we don’t
know. When someone offers a wise word of advice, we think to ourselves,
“Don’t worry, I can handle this for I have done it a hundred times
before." We forget the wisdom of the Word that reminds us that
“Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall (Pro. 16:18).
In ignoring the wise counsel of others, we often suffer the
consequences of our pride.
Proverbs 9:9 reminds us "Give instruction to a wise man and
he will be still wiser. Teach a righteous man and he will increase his
learning."
All of this reminds me of one of my favorite books. It is short,
only five chapters long, and it can be read in in less than a minute. A minute
to read five chapters, why that is impossible, you say. I took the Evelyn Wood
speed reading course many years ago, but I don’t think I could ever read that
fast. Well, check me out and see how long it takes you to read this book.
I Fell Into A Hole
by Portia Davis
CHAPTER ONE
I walk down a street and there’s a big hole. I don’t see it and fall into it.
It’s dark and hopeless and it takes me a long time to find my way out. It’s not
my fault !
CHAPTER TWO
I walk down the same street. There’s a big hole and I can see it, but I still
fall in. It’s dark and hopeless and it takes me a long time to get out. It’s
still not my fault.
CHAPTER THREE
I walk down a street. There’s a big hole. I can see it, but I still fall in.
It’s become a habit. But I keep my eyes open and get out immediately. It is my
fault.
CHAPTER FOUR
I walk down a street. There’s a big hole. And I walk around it.
CHAPTER FIVE
I walk down a different street.
Hopefully, it won’t take us five chapters to learn the lesson God
wants us to learn. What is it that they say in AA about the definition or
insanity? “It is doing the same thing again and again while expecting different
results.”
Fortunately, mistakes don't have to define us, that is, if we
don’t continue to make them again and again. Learning from our mistakes is an
important part of our maturing process. Such learning can lead us down
the road to improvement and future success.
Failing to learn from our mistakes, however, can lead us down the
opposite road, the one that leads to ruin and disaster.
The choices we make, make us, so be sure and be wise lest you fall
into another one of those holes in the street.
Yours in faith and friendship
Tom
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