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FROM THE BACK PEW – Some advice regarding advice

Pastor Ed Brouwer dispenses wit and wisdom in his regular column to the Boundary Creek Times.
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At times I feel the word “advice” if looked up in the Dictionary should be followed with (see “minefield”)

Taking advice from others and applying it indiscriminately to your life is like walking into a minefield: one wrong step and it can blow up in your face.

What works in one person’s life isn’t necessarily the best formula for another.

Who could possibly know enough about the complex dynamics of any relationship let alone the mother of all relationships, marriage to offer unasked for advice and expect it to be useful?

If you seek advice, seek it only from people whose judgment you trust.

I have also found that the more adamant people are in giving advice, the less valuable their advice is likely to be. Their advice may not be rooted in an understanding of your particular situation.

Humans are fallible, and even the best-intentioned advice can still be bad advice. There’s no doubt that we sometimes need a sounding board or a sympathetic ear when we run into rough spots on the relationship highway, and you should treasure those few friends whom you can trust to listen carefully.

Perhaps the most valuable thing they can do for you is to help you choose your own course of action. I’ve discovered that most of the time, the solution to a problem lies somewhere within our relationship, and the best advisor is the person who helps me bring it to light. And that’s my advice to you.

James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Please join us at Sidley Mountain Cowboy Church 6 p.m., the second and fourth Sunday nights of the month.