" But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them."  II  Kings 17:14-15 (ESV)

There are things I would tell myself, but I am not sure they would have an impact.

 

I am not sure that any of those things were withheld from me.

 

In fact,  I am sure that I received all the good advice I needed growing up and I also had the Bible. I even read the Bible.

Wisdom grows slowly.

 

So does humility.

 

"But they would not listen," must precede a history of all the reasons they (we) should listen.

 

How many of conjunctions must be inserted into our lives before we come to faith-junction where we abandon our stubborn notions and dead-end priorities for something authentic and true?

 

I have had too many "But they" moments in my life to count. What if I had listened instead?

 

I am not called to blend, but to contrast.

 

What matters now is what I do next with what I know now.