How will admitting I am sometimes wrong help me to “set my house in order?”

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Rita will be the Keynote Speaker: "Dare To Dream" at the upcoming

2015 Mid-Winter Writers Conference on Saturday, February 28, 2015.

For more information please visit:

==>Website = http://MWWConference.com

==>Facebook = MidWinterWritersConference

==>Registration Page = http://bit.ly/1DVaHqk

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Proverbs 1:5 “A wise man will hear and increase in learning...”

Do you sometimes wonder how our prodigals can be totally blind to what seems so obvious to us? I wonder too, but I’m not sure we’re really so different. I’m not talking about the way we lie to ourselves about the prodigal having a problem…that “elephant in the living room” we hear so much about. That’s a whole blog post in itself, isn’t it?

What I’m talking about is our tendency to be so sure we’re right that we won’t even consider another point of view. Here is where I remind you (and myself) that just because our prodigal is so often wrong, it doesn’t naturally follow that we’re always right.

It takes humility to look at our own words and actions and be open to seeing where we need to make changes. But if we really want to “set our house in order,” it will mean adopting a teachable spirit. Our text verse says that a wise person is willing to hear and, because he’s willing to hear, he increases in learning. James makes it a clear directive: “…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak.” (James 1:19)

I have some friends I call “accountability partners.” That means exactly what it sounds like. If I’m conflicted or upset about someone or something, they aren’t going to mollycoddle me or cosign on my silliness. Instead, they’re going to ask me, “What’s your part in this?” And whether I like it or not, I always have a part…even if it’s only a small one.

Although I don’t usually mind hearing that kind of loving rebuke from a trusted friend, that’s not the only place correction comes from. Would that it were! Sometimes correction comes in the form of criticism from someone who doesn’t like me anyway. That kind of “correction” is harder to take, isn’t it?

I used to tell my kids that when they were criticized, they should get alone with the Lord and ask Him to point out whether there’s a tiny bit of truth in the criticism. If there was, they should correct it; if not, they should pray for the person who criticized them. Great words as a “Mom-ism,” but they’re a lot harder to apply to my own life. However, that doesn’t make them less valid or wise.

When I’ve been the victim of harsh criticism and then found it to be true, at least in part, I usually find something else as well. You know those loving friends I wrote about a paragraph or two ago? Chances are I either couldn’t or wouldn’t seek or listen to their gentle rebukes. And if I had responded correctly by “judging myself,” God wouldn’t have needed to send Attila the Hun to point out what I needed to change. (1 Cor 11:31)

In Isaiah 50, the prophet says that God gave him “the tongue of the learned” so he would know how to speak to the weary. But he hastened to add that God also “woke his ear to hear as the learned.” (Isa 50:4) I’m thankful for encouraging words, but they need to be paired up with the “ears of the learned” if I’m going to grow. And both listening and growing are a vital part of “setting my house in order.”

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, asked God for the humility to accept that we aren’t always right?