My younger self was blessed to have a few people offer sage advice as I struggled with life. At the time I often didn’t appreciate their perspective. Decades later I understand how wise they were, and find myself offering the same advice to younger friends. Isn’t that often the way of this life?
What you describe, Nancy, has been my experience as well. People offer us wise counsel and at the time, for whatever reason, we don’t accept it. Later, we see it’s wisdom, usually after wrestling with the problem ourselves for awhile. And then we wonder why it took us so long. The way I see it is that advice is like food. Someone else might make the sandwich and offer it to me, but I have to accept it, which requires I eat it - take it in and absorb it so that it becomes part of me. At one level it looks like a simple series of transactions between me and the sandwich maker, and me and the sandwich. But at a deeper level it is a complex series of interactions involving biochemical sequencing beyond my ability to understand or interfere with once certain processes commence. Which brings me back to the still point dance - that mysterious dimension where God is not only involved, but completely in charge. And all this to suggest that if I wish to grow in wisdom, perhaps I start quietly reflecting and asking so that when someone offers me a sandwich, I can better appreciate whether or not it’s God’s provision for me in the moment.
My younger self was blessed to have a few people offer sage advice as I struggled with life. At the time I often didn’t appreciate their perspective. Decades later I understand how wise they were, and find myself offering the same advice to younger friends. Isn’t that often the way of this life?
What you describe, Nancy, has been my experience as well. People offer us wise counsel and at the time, for whatever reason, we don’t accept it. Later, we see it’s wisdom, usually after wrestling with the problem ourselves for awhile. And then we wonder why it took us so long. The way I see it is that advice is like food. Someone else might make the sandwich and offer it to me, but I have to accept it, which requires I eat it - take it in and absorb it so that it becomes part of me. At one level it looks like a simple series of transactions between me and the sandwich maker, and me and the sandwich. But at a deeper level it is a complex series of interactions involving biochemical sequencing beyond my ability to understand or interfere with once certain processes commence. Which brings me back to the still point dance - that mysterious dimension where God is not only involved, but completely in charge. And all this to suggest that if I wish to grow in wisdom, perhaps I start quietly reflecting and asking so that when someone offers me a sandwich, I can better appreciate whether or not it’s God’s provision for me in the moment.
Excellent analogy Ben.