My dad was a wise man of few words (yes, Mr./Ms. Smarty. My mother was a talker. That answers that genetic question.) I remember a conversation with him about a new thoracic surgeon named Nelson Kraft, who had just arrived in Tallahassee. He talked about what a great surgeon he was and how fortunate we were to have him in Tallahassee. I said, “Dad, what makes one surgeon better than another?” He said, “What do you think?” I said, “Small hands?” He said, “No.” “Dexterity?” “No.” “Sharp eye?” “No.” He said, “THE MARK OF A GREAT SURGEON IS KNOWING WHEN NOT TO OPERATE.”
Going forward feels like progress but isn’t always progress. Sometimes it’s heading for a cliff. The wise people I admire are always moving forward but at a pace where stopping or changing directions is possible. There will always be the Tiger Woods of the world who can stop his prodigious golf swing in mid-swing. Most of us can’t do that, so we need a little slower pace. Is there a decision you’d be better off not making right now? Not sure? Maybe it would be a good time to ask the Lord what He thinks and see what He says to your heart.
I’ve become a pretty low level bird watcher. I have no life list and rarely use binoculars, but I’ve developed a real love for several species of birds. Probably my favorite is the ruby throated hummingbird. I’ve come to realize it reminds me of God’s Kingdom in some strange ways. The ruby throated hummingbird, which is the hummingbird we have here in the south, is an amazingly aggressive little bird. In my side yard I have four feeders and lots of little aggressive green bullets are at each of them most of the day. There always seems to be a dominant bird in the yard that won’t let the others feed, even when there’s plenty of sugar water and she (yes, it’s usually a female) has had enough and is sitting in a tree. They fight each other in aerial battles that remind me of 