Learn

My troubles turned out all for the best—
    they forced me to learn from your textbook.
Truth from your mouth means more to me
    than striking it rich in a gold mine.

Psalm 119:71-72 

 

 

Today, I have spent 54 years on this Earth, every single one of those years have been filled with errors, mistakes, rebelliousness, and bad decisions.  I have managed to mess up my life in so many ways and so many times, that I am surprised to wake up this morning.

 

However, one of the things I can also say about all this time is that I have learned (hopefully) from many of the mistakes in life.  I am not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I can tell you that I am grateful for second chances.  

 

Did you know:

     *   David had been fired from every job he held.  Finally, while working at a gas station, he was frying some chicken in the back for lunch, and a customer liked what he smelled so much that he wanted to buy David's lunch.  The story of David's cooking got around and before long, the gas station opened a lunch counter for David's fried chicken.  You know him as Colonel Harland David Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

 

     *   Tommy didn't do so well in school.  In fact, he had trouble paying attention to the lessons.  His own teachers told his mother that Tommy was "too stupid to learn."  But Tommy was a tinkerer and eventually invented the incandescent light bulb.  We know him as Thomas Alva Edison.

 

     *   Theodor wrote books that told stories for children using nonsensical rhyming and rather odd drawings.  27 editors rejected his first book.  However, I am willing to wager that every adult reading this today has read "The Cat In The Hat" by Theodor Seuss Giesel, known to us as "Dr. Seuss."

 

Let me ask you, how many times did it take you to learn to leave the hot stove alone?  Probably just once, and God allowed you a second chance.  

 

We get in trouble when just refuse to learn from our mistakes.  We all know someone who makes bad choices and decisions and yet never seem to learn.  God has told us that He allows some things to happen to us for the purpose of teaching us.  Don't forget to put on your thinking caps today.