I first heard this quote from my band director when I was in high school. That may seem like a weird place to remember something like this from, but I spent a lot of time in band. I was a band nerd from the fourth grade, did jazz band, pep band, marching band, etc. I really loved it.
And there were a lot of times when we couldn't/wouldn't as a whole, settle down and listen to instruction. We'd rush through pieces and not watch his direction. We'd have side conversations when he was trying to instruct us. When he'd get super frustrated his face used to turn crimson and he would hang his head, eventually spreading silence through the room. Then he'd begin adding time to the rehearsal until we could get it together. When people groaned, he'd shrug his shoulders and say "If you can't be told, you have to feel."
I admit at the time that phrase didn't make a lot of sense to me. Like no sense at all, actually. I didn't mind longer rehearsals, so I guess it wasn't really a punishment for me. But fast forward to having my own children, and I suddenly saw how wise it is! When my girls were little and they couldn't obey by just being told not to do/touch something, then they had to feel through a tap on the hand or a spank. As they got older it was through losing privileges, or missing out on experiences.
If you can't be told, you have to feel.
I now apply this to my spiritual life. If I can't obey through being told, looking to Jesus as my director and guide, then I have to 'feel' in order for the lesson to sink in. This usually comes in the form of me making a bad decision/being stubborn/rushing ahead of God's plan and timing, and then having to feel the consequences- whether that be humbling myself and asking forgiveness, or an unpleasant physical or spiritual consequence.
If you can't be told, you have to feel.
I pray now that I am older I am doing better in the 'being told' part of the equation so I don't have to 'feel' so much in order to learn. I sure am thankful for God's mercy and patience in my life, and for the wisdom that band director may not have known he was imparting!
Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Proverbs 19:20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
And there were a lot of times when we couldn't/wouldn't as a whole, settle down and listen to instruction. We'd rush through pieces and not watch his direction. We'd have side conversations when he was trying to instruct us. When he'd get super frustrated his face used to turn crimson and he would hang his head, eventually spreading silence through the room. Then he'd begin adding time to the rehearsal until we could get it together. When people groaned, he'd shrug his shoulders and say "If you can't be told, you have to feel."
I admit at the time that phrase didn't make a lot of sense to me. Like no sense at all, actually. I didn't mind longer rehearsals, so I guess it wasn't really a punishment for me. But fast forward to having my own children, and I suddenly saw how wise it is! When my girls were little and they couldn't obey by just being told not to do/touch something, then they had to feel through a tap on the hand or a spank. As they got older it was through losing privileges, or missing out on experiences.
If you can't be told, you have to feel.
I now apply this to my spiritual life. If I can't obey through being told, looking to Jesus as my director and guide, then I have to 'feel' in order for the lesson to sink in. This usually comes in the form of me making a bad decision/being stubborn/rushing ahead of God's plan and timing, and then having to feel the consequences- whether that be humbling myself and asking forgiveness, or an unpleasant physical or spiritual consequence.
If you can't be told, you have to feel.
I pray now that I am older I am doing better in the 'being told' part of the equation so I don't have to 'feel' so much in order to learn. I sure am thankful for God's mercy and patience in my life, and for the wisdom that band director may not have known he was imparting!
Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Proverbs 19:20 Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.
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