Think About It

          It is probably natural, but have you noticed how easy it is to condemn modern society?   It is tempting to look back at how things used to be and see the good, then look forward and dread the direction we are headed.   While nostalgia is fun and gives us a warm feeling, it isn’t all that accurate.   You see, the past isn’t always as pure as we believe.   There have always been issues and – as long as there are people – there will be problems.   One of the condemnations made about modern society is how rapidly people are to discount the truth and promote their own opinions to get their own ways.   I will not deny that this happens today, but in the interest of honesty, it has been that way throughout the ages.   Even thousands of years ago, at the beginning of the Christian era, deception was a problem.   After describing false prophets, the Apostle Peter notes, “ Many will follow their sensuality, and b...

After many years of inactivity, I am picking up my golf clubs again.  Well, let me rephrase that – I am pulling out the new clubs Jeane and our children gave me.  I am excited about my renewed interest in the game.  I have played off and on during various seasons of my life and I (and they) think it’s time to give it another try.  Now, the reason I share this with you is to relate a couple of lessons I have learned in the process.  First of all, I can’t expect to pick up my clubs after years (decades) of inactivity and expect to be proficient.  Yet maybe the biggest lesson is that I will have to learn to play “old man’s golf”.  I was never a long hitter, but now that I have gotten more gray hair, I can’t expect to hit the ball as far as a used to.  The great thing about golf is that you can be successful even if you aren’t a monster driver.  The important thing is to play within your strengths and keep the ball in the fairway.  I am actu...

I like proverbs – not just the literature, but the book as well.  As I was reading from the Old Testament book the other day, I noticed this gem, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5).  When I first read this bit of wisdom, I was inclined to think about someone who doesn’t think things thought.  They make a quick decision and stick with it; yet, as I pondered this a bit further, I wondered if there wasn’t another application to it.  Rather than merely condemning thoughtless rationale, could we learn something about stick-with-itness?  (Yes, I know that isn’t a word but hang with me for a bit.)  Most of us know the dangers of not giving something the appropriate calculation, but could the same be said about conviction?  It is easy to try something and if that doesn’t work, we just give up and walk away.  How much more could we accomplish if w...

What do you do when you are facing a difficult decision?   It is convenient to boil our decisions down to one of two options – either yes or no.   We can either choose to do something we way we perceive it should be done or we walk away from it.   The problem with this reasoning is that there are times when either end of this spectrum can leave us in a quandary.   We miss out on some neat things when we avoid an action or we feel bad because we did something that made us feel uneasy.   Wouldn’t be nice if we could have chosen something in between that avoids the uneasiness and makes us feel good about what we did?   Upon further review – why not?   What if we put in the extra effort to find a way to multiply our options without compromising our principles? When I think about wisdom, this is a scenario that I can easily imagine.   Wisdom isn’t just knowing the absolute rights and wrongs – one of its great traits is to find that solid middle groun...

April 20 th has been known for some famous (or maybe even infamous) events; but one that is not so well known is that it is Steve Spurrier’s birthday.   Now, depending on your perspective, this event could also fall into the famous or infamous category, but you have to admit that the Old Ball Coach has been making news and headlines for a lot of years!   The other day I was reading some of his quotes and came across an old one from 1967, “I can write off 1967.   It has not been especially enjoyable or educational.   I blame myself for two things:   I wasn’t prepared, and I haven’t improved a bit since college.”.   Coming out of the University of Florida, Spurrier seemed to be a can’t-miss; but he did.   As a college quarterback and later as a coach, he was elite – as a professional ballplayer; well not so much.   The reason that I highlight this quote is his willingness to take responsibility for what happened – or, maybe more importantly, what...

What do we do when someone shows us up?   I would imagine that it has happened to all of us – we had something planned and someone did something to either diminish what we were doing or did something to promote their own agenda.   Whether they did it on purpose or not, it can be humiliating, aggravating or painful.   So, getting back to the original question – what do we do?   A common reaction to this is to snap back at them, either by finding a way to make them look foolish or to give them a lecture on their insensitivity which features a dressing down in the form of the question that begins, “How could you do that to me?”.   In the long run, I don’t know that it makes things better, but at the moment, it tends to make us feel vindicated.   Unfortunately, the good feeling we get might be negated by the damage we do.   We might feel better, but we probably don’t look good. Rather than retaliating against the perceived slight, we have two better opti...