April 19, 2024: Experience Doesn’t Have To Be My Best Teacher If I Listen

”Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.“ -‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭19‬:‭20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

When I was in college, the church I attended had a meeting for men on Friday nights. It was almost like a collective exchange of information from one generation to the next. While we were all there to strengthen our walk with Christ, it became an encouragement to each of us. I specifically remember a deacon by the name of Clarence Priestley who regularly shared his experiences and nuggets of wisdom with us. He wanted us to be the best men that we could be. One thing that sticks with me every day of my life was this phrase, “I share these stories with you so that you can learn from my mistakes. If you learn it now, you won’t have to experience it later.”

Solomon’s advice is that if you listen and learn at your young age, wisdom will find you when you get older. The things that we used to hear when we were younger, we sometimes shrugged off. We accused others of getting in our business or controlling our lives. What happens as we grow and mature is that we realize what they were saying was to help us and not hurt us. Wisdom says to take advantage of the situations that you are putting in. Absorb what will help you and toss aside what doesn’t. When you mature, you will be able to look back on all those experiences and understand what they were trying to tell you. You don’t have to go through every experience to learn the lesson. Sometimes you just need to listen.