My post will be a little short today because we had plenty of snow at my house this morning. This guy got to shovel a lot of the white stuff for my morning workout.
“Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
May the advice you receive be soft and help you make the changes you desire. I will strive to do that tomorrow when there is hopefully a little less snow to shovel.
As I get older, it’s fun to see friends and peers reinventing themselves. Pivoting has been essential during the COVID-19 pandemic and many people have done just that. I wrote this article about two musicians that found their place during the pandemic.
I especially like one piece of advice Jay gave to musicians. It is something we can all benefit from.
Jay encourages [musicians] to plan, but be flexible. “It’s everybody’s motto these days. And it’s never been truer: live with open hands.”
Article: Jay and Amy Rouse Finds a New Melody
Our best-laid plans were upended in 2020. Everyone has had to find a way to live and work in an alternative way. Some of us have struggled while others have been able to make it work. Resilience and the willingness to change have made a big difference when it has felt like the world was falling apart.
Life rarely goes the way we hoped it would. There are happy surprises as well as unpleasant ones. The future is rarely as predictable as we would like to think it is. Even as there are signs of improvement in COVID vaccines and the economy, we will face some setbacks along the way.
Live with open hands. Find a new melody. Be flexible. It is great advice now and will be great advice in the near and distant future.
Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.
Proverbs 29:1 NLT
Criticism can sometimes hurt. It’s especially painful when our pride gets in the way and we feel we don’t deserve the rebuke.
Criticism can also be wrong. The talent manager of the Grand Ole Opry fired Elvis Presley after he bombed on stage and said Elvis should go back to driving a truck!
Yet, there is truth in today’s proverb. While criticism can hurt, it can also be an opportunity for growth. The challenge is to glean truth from a barbed comment and learn what you can from it. Elvis learned from that experience the audience of the 1954 Grand Old Opry wasn’t his audience, but he soon found his base. If he was determined to go back to the Opry and focus on it, we may have never heard of Mr. Presley.
If we do anything of value, we will face critics. Decide today how you can learn from it without allowing it to get you down.
I had just been laid off. I was seeking advice and some reassurance. So I contacted a local, successful artist to meet with him.
I have always loved the cartoon style. This successful illustrator came from that background, but his style evolved to a more realistic approach. He gave me advice on observation and how to make my artwork look better. I was shocked and angry. Here I had just come from a great job as a book designer at a succesful company. Didn’t he know I was successful too? (keep in mind the company was struggling enough to lay me off. How successful was that?) My pride got in the way and I wasn’t taking any of this! I thanked him and left. But on the inside, I was fuming!
Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.
Proverbs 13:10
I missed out on a good opportunity and a potential friendship that day because of my fragile pride. It was rather foolish. I’d like to say pride is never an issue anymore. But no, pride can creep in at any time. We are surrounded by it, and our human nature tends to gravitate towards it.
I resolve to listen more before being ready for an argument. I resolve to seek other opinions that aren’t necessarily like mine. Let’s reach out to others that may have advice that runs counter to our opinions.
Cartoon of a guy holding a stop sign. the caption says, While it was true Tom prayed for a sign from God, this wasn’t what he had hoped for.
Many times, when I’ve received a sign, it wasn’t the one I hoped for either. I don’t like it when I had a set of plans that doesn’t jive with the natural order of things. Sometimes, God has to hit me over the head with a stop sign to get my attention. When I finally do listen, I realized I could’ve saved myself a lot of frustration by just heeding the signs.