GRANDAD WISDOM


My Grandad would say to me after witnessing some of my bone-headed youthful foolishness, “Ed, use your head for something besides a hat-rack!” The more he said that to me I began to realize he wasn’t making fun of me, he was attempting to teach me a very important life lesson. I need to generate clear thinking before stepping off into the situations of life. Often I think back on those situations and say, “What caused me to do that? What was I thinking when I flew off the handle like that? What was I thinking when I did that foolish thing?” If pressed to respond, I suppose the answer might be, “I guess I was thinking that no one would notice. Or that the rules don't apply to me. Or what I do today is not that important—who really cares anyway.”

Grandad was telling me the same thing the apostle Peter was saying to Christ-followers in the first century church. Before you follow through, think it through. “So think clearly and exercise self-control. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires.” (1 Peter 1:13-14)

Grandad’s wisdom has proven extremely useful over the years and has remained beneficial long after his moving to heaven. I can still hear him say; “Don't just think about this moment. Think about the Big Picture. Use your head for something besides a hat-rack! Think about where your life is going and what God has promised to accomplish through you. Most importantly, think about what you'll be, not what you were.”

So let me say to those who are living out some type of bone-headed foolishness. Let this Grandad wisdom settle deep within you begin to think about what you will be, not what you were—“Use your head for something besides a hat-rack!” Before you follow through, think it through. Learn to carry an idea to its logical conclusion: “If I do this, if I say this, if I text this, if I post this, if I buy this, if I ingest this, will it take me where I want to go? If I plant this seed, what harvest will it bring?” Please, think through what you do.

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