“The Book of Virtues by William J. Bennett contains the insightful story of two frogs that lived together in a marsh. One hot summer the marsh dried up and they left it to look for another place to live. Frogs like damp places. So by and by they came to a deep well and one of them looked down into the well and said to his companion, “This looks like a nice cool place. lets jump in and settle here.” But the other much wiser frog said, “Not so fast, my friend. Suppose this well is dried up like the marsh we just came from? How will we got out again?” The moral of the story is that prudent, thoughtful frogs and human beings not only look before they leap but they think twice before they act.
Hasty decisions are usually made with little regard to the consequences. A hasty decision in regards to college, moving to a new location, taking a job, entering into marriage, relocating, purchasing a car, house, major appliance or anything else you might contemplate usually leads to regrets and sometimes tears. Proverbs 22:3-4 says, “The wise man sees the danger ahead and avoids it, but the naïve go ahead and fall into the pit.”
The temptation and pressure for people today to try drugs, alcohol, to move in with someone and enter into a relationship outside of marriage is extremely strong. Often such decisions are made with the rationalization that “everybody is doing it”. Perhaps that is precisely the reason that the Bible says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
When I was a child every railroad crossing had a cross sign that read, “Stop, Look, Listen”. Those signs are long gone, replaced by modern electronic crossing gates, but for those who want to live for Christ and avoid deep regrets for hasty decisions, STOP, LOOK, LISTEN before you act is solid advice.
In His Love
Charles
