A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, the naive proceed and pay the penalty. ~Proverbs 27:12
Let me tell you a story that makes me laugh when I remember it. I was speaking at a men’s event where every room, similar to the church’s name, was named after some kind of body of water—creek, river, lake, pond—you get the idea.
At the end of the evening I had to use the restroom to, uh, rest. I followed directions down various hallways when I came to a sign hanging from the ceiling that read “Stream Room” with an arrow pointing left. That must be it, I thought. But as I neared the sign the bathroom was directly to the right, just across the hall from the actual Stream Room!
After a good laugh, taking a “rest”, followed by a picture of the sign I asked the event volunteers if they’d noticed how funny that sign seemed to a visitor. They had no idea that they actually had two Stream Rooms, one figurative and one literal!
Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. You’ve heard the idiom, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Sometimes we know something so well we see what no one else sees, the good, bad, and ugly. Sometimes, however, we become so familiar we can’t see what everyone else sees!
When it comes to ourselves, we are generally more optimistic about our lives than others, and don’t care as much about the consequences of our decisions. For younger, single, males the collateral damage is minimal when we veer into oncoming traffic and get blindsided (I’m speaking figuratively).
The apostle Paul said it best, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)
When we become men, however, we do away with childish speaking, thinking and reasoning. We realize our choices have greater consequences; especially once we marry, have children, and serve those around us.
Our propensity is to downplay and ignore our blind spots. It’s tough to see the flaws we’ve lived with our entire lives. We need people who have the love and guts to call us out and up to do so.
We are broken vessels, living in a fallen world, and fighting to offer authentic lives to a desperate humanity. We do so by locking arms with courageous people who care enough to call us up from those unseen flaws that could take us down.
