The things that can make one wise are both few and numerous, I believe. On the one hand you have all the trials and tribulations of life and the people who can teach you about them and the books you can read about them; but at the same time, most of the stuff and nonsense that you’ll hear out there is just plain old foolishness and should be thrown in the trash can.
So, wisdom itself could be more of knowing what to take and what to leave. Sound wisdom and discretion. You don’t always have to live through a fire to learn how to deal with flame, but if you’re not going to experience it firsthand, you better listen and watch and store up discretionary thinking.
So, does it all boil down to practice? Practicing being the wise man and not the fool at all times so that when the heat is really on you will practice sound wisdom and discretion without having to stop and read up?
— from last September. [Can anyone tell I’d been reading Proverbs?]
Rachel O'Laughlin 
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I haven’t read the Twilight series. I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about it! My sister is reading it, along with a few of my friends.
(In reference to this post)
Do you think it is necessary to “learn the hard way” by making your own mistakes instead of learn from the mistakes of others? I have some friends who seem to think so and they’re getting themselves into quite a mess. (You might be able to tell my opinion already.)
God bless! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Ah, my mother’s faverite thing to say, is “You dont have to make the mistakes others made to learn from them.”
And I think she’s right about that. And, haha, yes, I could tell you were reading Proverbs. [grins]
Did I miss something – or does your blog have anything to do with Twilight – the comment before mine is confusing me. 0_o lolz.
Oh, and no, my blog hasn’t anything to do with Twilight, just Stephenie and I ended up talking about it via blog comments. :)
Let’s see. I’ve been thinking about this a lot (mistakes and bad choices, that is), and I’m thinking that when Yashua [or Jesus] said that about lusting in your heart being the same as actually committing the physical sin, he was talking about every sin ever. With those glasses on, I don’t think it’s a leap to say that we have all stumbled in ways very similar to those around us. Even if we haven’t “gone all the way”, stolen the candy we looked at, yelled the angry words that we thought, etc., we have experience with manipulation, lying, cheating, idolatry, dishonor, disobedience, coveting, lusting… all of it, straight from the cradle.
Although we all have different weaknesses and break down in different areas, we still learn things the hard way from the word go, just like every time Israel refused to heed Yahweh’s orders and went ahead with their junk anyway. Whether or not we give in to temptation and make that conscious decision to do something we know is wrong is up to each of us every day. They learned the hard way, with pain and death as consequences. Compromising is not a suggested means for learning, as far as I’m concerned! Yes, a mistake will teach you something. But it’s a black lie to say that nobody understands because they haven’t “been there”. We’re all mortal. We’ve all been there.
Maybe I should write another blog on this, hehe!
Then we agree…. =D
I def agree