HOW DO WE KNOW?

It is a given that we all want to do what is right, what is just, what is loving. Yes, we all sometimes do what we know is wrong, what we know to be unjust, what we know to be selfish. And we do so knowingly, willingly and deliberately. We are human. But children of God that we are, there is something innate in us that desires the right, the just, the loving, the good.

How do we know that to be true? Simply because as soon as we have said or done something we know to have been wrong or unjust or selfish, we feel guilty. And we don’t like that feeling. We don’t like it one bit. We don’t like to live with the knowledge that we have failed to live up to what we desire of ourselves, namely, to be the best person we can be. It eats away at us.

But how do we know what to do? How do we avoid making mistakes? Somewise person once observed that good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment. In other words, sometimes we have to make mistakes to know we have done that which we should not have done. Sometimes we truly have to touch the hot pan to know we should not touch hot pans.

Sometimes, however, we are met with what sounds like conflicting pieces of advice. We are told that we must look before we leap. Wise advice else we might jump headfirst into a pool that is only a foot deep. On the other hand, we are told that the one who hesitates is lost. In other words, full speed ahead. That, too, can be wise advice as we all have no doubt learned from experience.

We are reminded that many hands make light work. The more, the merrier and the quicker the job gets done. On the other hand we are told from reputable sources that too many cooks spoil the broth. Too much advice can make a simple job seem overwhelming and it can certainly make a mess of what everyone wants to do but where everyone also has his or her own opinion on how best to do it.

So how do we know? How do we know when to go it alone or when to seek help, when to take our time before starting a project or when to jump right in? An old Jewish saying has it that the difference between the wise person and the clever person is that the clever person can extricate him/herself from a situation into which a wise person never would have gotten into in the first place.

It’s always better to be wise, but wisdom comes from experience and experience comes, often, from making mistakes, from getting ourselves into positions we could have avoided had we been wiser, from slowing down when we should have sped up and from speeding when we should have slowed down.

All of which is a reminder about one, if not the essential, lesson of Easter. That is that no matter what happens, no matter what mistake we have made or how many, there is always resurrection. Learning from our mistakes is an Easter experience. Good to know.