Patriarchs & Wisdom

I once asked my father how it was a person became smart. He told me that I needed to ask questions. I took this advice to heart and have questioned him, along with many others, tirelessly, since. There was one thing I didn't fully understand about the wisdom that my father dispensed me. I was perfectly content to ask questions, the problem I developed was not waiting to listen for the answer. After noticing this trend my father dispensed more wisdom to my growing mind, he told me that at times it was more important to

Keep my ears open and my mouth shut.

Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy talking, weather it is preaching on a Sunday morning or just trying to make myself the center of attention, I can be verbose.

The older I get the wiser wisdom seems to get. I don't know if it is my thinning hair that makes me less hot headed, or the revelation that my parents were really right all of those times, but I feel that I better understand the things I was once told. There are two sayings that my grandfather has told me repeated times growing up that seem to make more and more since the further into adulthood I plunge. I can't remember the first time I heard it, but somewhere amongst the hundreds I was told,

Put your head in gear before you put your mouth in motion.

As a teenager it is easy to hear that and completely ignore the principle by saying, "yeah, yeah I know." During certain sermons it is common to hear my father say, "Sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can break your heart." Words as so commonly thrown around, that often we don't put thought into what we are saying until someone has a broken heart and we have turned ourselves into fools.

The second bit of advice my grandfather repeatedly told me was,

Don't let your moth overload your behind.

This one took me a little bit more time to grasp, it always seemed that I was told this in just a little more of a threatening tone than the first (most likely had the threat gone past this phrase, a belt would come off.) In the arrogance of my previous years I have said, sometimes in anger, things that merited a spanking or two. I often allowed my mouth to overload my behind and it seemed that the result was never one that bode well for me.

One thing I feel I am learning to do more and more is to simply listen, to observe. My wife would be the first person to tell you that I am not perfect at it yet but I am getting better. You see through the wisdom from my father and grandfather I have learned that if I take time to listen I will be better off. Know that it is good to ask questions, but if we don't take the time to hear the answer the question is without purpose. The questions we ask and the things we say should not be without thought or out of arrogance or anger but with careful consideration and wisdom. Wisdom of such stature seems to be passed down from generation to generation, I am not sure exactly where it originated from but I have a good guess.

James 1:19 - My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

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