Advice

Advice, we love to give it, but we are not always so receptive to receiving it. Often times the advice we receive is advice we know we should already be following. If you think about it we tell small children, whether they are our own or others, tips for life all day long: 

Don’t eat that. Use two hands when carrying that. Look before you cross the street. Use the crosswalk. If you don’t have anything nice to say then stay quiet. 

The list goes on and on. We expect other people to listen to our advice, but we don’t listen to our own advice. We eat quick meals that are often unhealthy because we don’t have time. Or maybe we don’t think we are worth the time it would take to prepare a good meal. But we spend the time on others. We make sure they eat and that they eat relatively healthy. 

I’m not sure why we don’t listen to our own advice. Why we insist we know what is best when we would be jumping at the chance to give someone else advice in the same situation. We are not invincible. We are not above bad choices or continuing to live unwisely. 

It’s Sunday as I write this and that means it is the start of a new week. This week I propose we remember we are children of God and as children of God we need to live according to the same advice we give the children we encounter:

We need to turn off the television and go outside. We need to do our work before we can play. We need to eat better. We need to put down our phones and talk to the people we love. We need to forgive those who have hurt us. We need to say sorry when we have hurt others. 

All of those little pieces of advice we give children, I challenge you to follow this week.