There is a difference between being a fool and making a foolish mistake. We all make foolish mistakes from time to time. Case in point…I once owned a pair of Patrick Ewing basketball shoes.
A foolish mistake is something you did unintentionally and you regret it afterward. A fool knows the difference between right and wrong and chooses to do what is wrong anyway*. The key to not being a fool is to be wise. I pray for wisdom on a weekly basis. I pray for wisdom with my finances, in my marriage, with my job…the list goes on and on. I believe that we all are one foolish choice away from ruining our lives. It takes years to build a great career and only seconds to ruin it. It takes years to build a strong marriage and only seconds to ruin it. It takes years to build greatness and only seconds to destroy it. Sure you can find forgiveness, but a foolish choice can take years to clean up.
*I first heard this definition from reading a student lesson by pastor and author Andy Stanley.
You’d think that as we get older, the frequency and magnitude of our mistakes would abate. We should be learning, growing wiser. Too bad this ain’t the case. The mistakes just keep on. Dang.
lol. on the Ewing shoes. if we live in fear of looking foolish or being a fool, what would be the quality of our life? you are right that it takes just one foolish moment to wreck a lot of things, but what we do in those moments will tell if we are the true fool.
Good post Rob.
good word rob! So true
…but the wise man harkoneth, Rob. You forgot to add it in. A little Student CG memory thrown in always does the body good.
I don’t get home again until mid-June after combat survival training.
Well said–nice parallelism.
wisdom aplenty. great post, fer sure.
also, i caved early after getting a head start on April Fools around midnite-ish last nite…. admitted to my fake-broken-leg story earlier this afternoon haha….
i would kill for a pair of those shoes.
I agree with the point mostly, but with few exceptions it’s never really just one foolish choice.
It’s a hundred or a thousand “foolish” choices that define us… make us into who we are, that leads up to the tipping point where the “second” or “one” foolish choice destroys the things we love.
Marriages don’t end because of infidelity… they started to end when the thought started and was nurtured.
Carreers become sketchy because of shady decisions, long before the one “big” decision is made that loses it all. It’s a decision to do whatever it takes to achieve success.
Even something as “accidental” as car wrecks are often times set because of years of foolish driving behavior… lack of signals, running yellow lights, tailgating, speeding… these cause accidents, and it’s rarely just a one time deal that results in the tragedy.
My point is that we make ourselves into who we want to be (wise or foolish) over time with hundreds of “small” decisions. So really, I’d say it takes as long to make the fool as the wise man.