| Do you remember Pete Seeger, the American singer-songwriter from the 1950’s? Have you ever heard his song, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”? I remember it mostly from Peter, Paul and Mary. The refrain at the end of each verse sang, “Oh, when will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn?” This past week I have been asking this question in a much more personal way – “Oh, when will I ever learn? Oh, when will I ever learn?” And I am beginning to think that for me – as one can also conclude from the song’s lyrics – the answer is NEVER! Just as the wars and rumors of war will never cease until our Lord returns, so there are some “new tricks” … and some not so new ones … that this old dog is just too stubborn to give in to (or is it “dense”?). Take last Thursday as an example. You did not receive a Thursday’s Thirst for the simple reason that I forgot to write one. I had an idea in mind already on Monday. My “plan” was to write it on Tuesday … then 6 of us were going to drive up to the cottage that evening for one over-night and a workday on Wednesday. But I got carried away with some lawn activities on Tuesday, the number traveling to Houghton Lake that night got reduced by 4, and the workday turned into a lazy morning and some wondrous time in the warm sun on the lake. And not until someone asked me about it on Thursday afternoon did I ever realize that I had totally forgotten about my “plan.” … Oh, when will I ever learn? Speaking of driving up north, earlier in the summer Exit 227 (our exit) on I-75 was closed for construction. However, the last time I went up, it was open again. So, as we are driving on Tuesday evening, our Waze navigational app tells me to use our usual exit. Then, on I-75, I start to see signs telling me that Exit 227 is closed … and these were not just the metal signs, but also some that were lit up and flashing. So what did I do? I ignored the road signs and trusted the Waze app until the orange barrels prohibited our exiting! It (only) added an extra 30 miles to our trip! Oh, when will I ever learn? Oh, when will I ever learn? Then Saturday just before 6:00 p.m. we were driving home from downtown Detroit and decided to stop at East Detroit bakery for doughnuts. We pulled in at 5:59 (they close at 6:00). We apologized, purchased our dozen, apologized again, and headed out. Waze had informed us of a traffic backup between 9 Mile and 10 Mile, so we drove the neighborhood up to 10 Mile. When we had gone into town five hours earlier the entrance ramp at 10 Mile was closed, but now it was after 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday – and Waze was telling me it was open. I think you know the rest of the story … We cut off a few cars as we jumped from the turn lane right before crossing I-94 and then drove through another neighborhood up to 11 Mile. I almost said that “the answer is blowing in the wind”, but that’s Bob Dylan, not Pete Seeger! Oh, when will I ever learn? Paul speaks of a similar problem in Romans. “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. … Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7.18-20, 24) Slow student? Lazy learner? I think it’s just stubborn stupidity! There is something in all of us that says, “I know better” … “I’ll do it my way” … “Don’t you dare try to boss me around!” It was in Paul. It is in me. And I am willing to lay odds it is in you, too. Driving thirty miles out of the way because I ignored multiple signs is just one little, fairly benign, illustration – I tend to work at keeping the more cancerous problems less public … while I work at confessing them to the offended parties (which, of course, includes Jesus with whom I have been raised to live a new life … a life where “slow”, “lazy”, and “stubborn” are placed in the hamper with all the other dirty garments) and learning from my “stubbornly stupid mistakes”. Paul recognized three bottom-line truths. One is that we have neither the will nor the ability to overcome our stubborn stupidity. The second is that this is a problem we will have our entire life. And the third is that there is only one solution – we need a “rescuer” … we need Jesus and to be baptized into his death. “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Romans 7.24-25) “We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6.4) This “newness of life” includes learning from our mistakes – hopefully! Oh, when will we ever learn? Oh, when will we ever learn? Hopefully these three truths we have all learned by now! |
When Will I Ever Learn?