A few weeks ago, I heard a powerful quote that made me stop and think. I encourage you to take a moment and think about this:

own mistakes. A foolish person never learns."

We all need help. If we want to live a life that is considered to be wise, we should accept help from people and learn from the mistakes they have made in the past. In a previous blog I wrote, I talked about this same subject. I pointed out that there are times in life when we all face things that we can't do on our own and we need help from other people. Ultimately, realizing that we can't make it in this life on our own, we need help from our creator, God. We have to be willing to accept His help.

Whether you find yourself in a situation that is beyond your control or you realize you are stuck in the ruts of the same old problem over and over again, you need help. The crazy thing is, when we realize we need help, it is during these times that we usually are most open to learning. God knows this and he loves us so much that he is willing to allow these tough times to come our way so we can learn the things we need to learn. I have found that he gives us options as to how we learn and he encourages us to be wise in our learning. His best option is for us to be wise and learn quickly. This is when we learn things quickly and display that we are teachable and thus learn from the mistakes that other people make.

Have you noticed that a lot of people don't like to learn this way? They watch their friends make costly mistakes, sometimes even helping them get through the problem or ordeal and then turn around and make the same mistakes they just witnessed their friend make. For example: I know teenage girls who watched their friends struggle to "make it" after having a teenage pregnancy. These same girls then turn around a year later and get pregnant themselves. What's up with that?! I have watched young people talk with their friends about the dangers of drugs then eventually get caught in the same trap and now, they are a straight up junkie. This doesn't make since! We have to be willing to learn and learn quickly.

Life is a journey that we take, it's an adventure. We don't always know what will happen and we aren't always prepared to deal with things that come up. At these times we need to rely on others for help. Get the picture?

Let me address one more issue on this topic. Some people don't accept help because they don't like "handouts". I understand this. But let's define what a handout really is. A "handout" is asking someone to do something for you instead of you doing it for yourself. This isn't good for either party in the long run. Instead, we should accept "hand ups" - this is when someone extends their hand out to you so you can grab it and pull yourself up. A "hand up" requires you to still be actively working while someone is helping you. I encourage you to be willing to work hard and help yourself while at the same time accept help from others. Strive to be wise and not average. Can you dig it?

Word...

Pasta' Alex