Ready for a shocker? (Make sure you’re sitting down for this!)
Learn to trust the grown-ups in your life!
Parents, teachers, pastors and youth leaders are all valuable sources of information. They really do want what’s best for you. When I was much younger, my mom took me to play at a neighbor’s house. I noticed they were scratching and had little red spots on their faces and arms. When I got home, I noticed I was scratching, and those red spots started to appear on me. My mom had purposely taken me to a sick house to get sick!
I thought maybe I needed to call child services on this crazed woman! My mother helped comfort me with ointment and hot baths, and gradually the spots began to disappear. I learned later that it was chicken pox. When you get chicken pox as a child your immune system is able to adapt to it.
If I hadn’t had that adapting time and had contracted chicken pox as an adult, it would have made me extremely ill and could have even killed me. I didn’t know that, but my mother did. She knew what was best for me. Listen to grown-ups. They know what’s best for you, and they’ve probably dealt with more sickness than you have.
The Big Picture
Have you ever burned yourself on something hot? Before you burned yourself you were probably warned, “Hey, don’t touch that. You’ll hurt yourself!” Chances are, you went on to burn yourself anyway. Listen to the grown-ups in your life. They’ve burned themselves more times than you have, and they’re simply trying to pass on the wisdom. Grown-ups have a more experienced viewpoint and usually take in the whole picture.
A missionary living in India passed this story on to me: His son was playing in the yard next to a tree. The missionary said, “Son, freeze! Now slowly get on your hands and knees and crawl to me.” When the boy obeyed, the dad’s instructions changed: “Now get up and run as fast as you can.”
His son did as he was told without questioning. When he reached his father, he turned around to view the tree where had been playing. Nearby was a cobra. If the boy had stopped and questioned his father, the snake would have easily struck him. Listen to the grown-ups in your life! They’ve been bitten by more cobras than you.
Grown-ups have also failed more than you. It’s simple math. They’re older, and they’ve lived longer. So they’ve had more opportunities to mess up than you have. This also means they’ve had more time to learn from their mistakes. A smart person will learn from his mistakes, but a great person will learn from the mistakes of others. So be great. And did I mention . . . listen to the grown-ups in your life?!
