Listen to Advice

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. Proverbs 12:15
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Proverbs 19:20
There is a saying that Hindsight is 20/20. Now that I am in my senior years, I can look back and think, I wish I had listened. I remember the first time I went to Divorce Recovery Class. I was going through my first divorce, and I didn't listen. It takes time to heal from a broken relationship and I did not listen. After a twenty year marriage fails, they advise you in this Divorce Recovery Class to remain single for one year for every four or five you were married. For a twenty year marriage that would be 4 to 5 years. I was married again in six months. I had not allowed my self to heal. I thought for some reason it didn't apply to me. I was different. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes. It took me years to realize and take ownership of my own part in the failure of my marriage. That is why we need time. We will not see our own garbage right away. If we do not heal, we carry that baggage with us into the next relationship. Marriage requires work and do not mess up a new relationship with baggage from an old relationship. A wise man listens to advice. I use this example from my own life. This wisdom is good for more than just marriages. Listen to those with more years, more experience, they have some bought lessons. What I mean by bought lessons, they learned the hard way by not listening to advice. It would be wise to learn from other peoples mistakes, than to have to pay personally for every lesson. A wise man listens to advice, listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Everyone of us needs wise counsel, seek out someone older, more experienced, with their head on straight and listen. It is one thing to be a fool, it is another thing to continue to be a fool for thirty, forty, fifty years or more. If any lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.  James 1:5  I remember my first mentor at the Boeing company. They paired me, a new hire, with an old mechanic that had retired once and came back to work again. He gave me a piece of advice that I never forgot. Armond was his name, and he told me there is always feast and famine in the mockup world. Sometimes you will have more work than you can handle, other times it will be very slow. Keep a little block of wood on the top of your tool box with a piece of sand paper and in the slow times when you see the bosses coming , grab that piece of wood and be working on it.  A few weeks later, Armond walks by my tool box and grabs my little block of wood and teases, it is so smooth like a babies behind.  I did learn a lesson from that old timer and in all my years, I tried to look busy. Even in the computer age, I always tried to have something to work on. It was good advice and I followed it. I lasted a good 32 years and loved my job. God bless, LVZ.