When I tell teenagers that they need to budget and plan ahead if they are going to get speeding tickets, they just look at me like I'm crazy. "You don't plan for those kinda things!"
But they happen. Why not plan for them?
Similar looks come my way when I tell people they need to cut
back on sinning as repentance is time consuming. In the grand scheme of things, if we sinned less, we'd spend less time repenting and then we'd have more time for the things we want to do. What's wrong with that? Yes, there are better reasons for cutting back on our sinning, but time management is a good one too.
Another reason to stop offending people by our selfishness, arrogance, inconsiderate laziness, loose lips and irritating idiosyncrasies is that restoration of relationships is time consuming too. Far better to maintain good relationships than to be constantly putting out fires or picking up pieces. You know how it is when you try to glue some things back together; not everything fits back in just right and cracks are forever reminders. Same thing with charred bits. Someone can always point that out and say, "Remember when you . . . . . !"
I think one of the advantages of getting older is that I think less about the here and now. I have a slighter larger, longer deeper view of things. I hope that doesn't mean I am tedious in my thinking, considering all angles to the point of inertia! I hope it does mean that I've learned from experience and am making new mistakes rather than repeating those old ones.
My dad has always said that a degree from the School of Hard Knocks is the most valuable degree one can get! It's my dad's birthday today. The way he's clocking them up, I'd say he has a right to speak of valuable lessons learned and wisdom accrued.
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