Do you ever wonder why cars have horns? My extensive—and by “extensive” I mean two minutes on Google—internet research revealed that horns were put on cars initially because they shared narrow dirt roads with horse drawn carriages. Horns were used when approaching a blind corner to alert any horse drawn transport that a motorized vehicle was approaching.
How about that? I’ll bet you thought the horn was invented as:
- A Jesus-love indicator
- An annoyance indicator
- A friend-in-the-next-lane greeting.
In our family, we have a horn honk tradition when we’ve all been together. When someone gets in the car to leave, they honk the horn and wave from the street while everyone else stands on the porch and waves goodbye. We are in the third generation of this tradition.
Last week, I got one of those unfriendly honks while I was driving. I must confess that, while I was not technically “texting” while driving, I was using my cell phone to look up a number. No matter how hard I try to justify that, it was still a bad idea. I heard a honk in the next lane and when I looked up a stern-faced woman was mouthing, “Stop that!”
My first thought was, “Mind your own dadgum business!” Fortunately, that was short-lived (about 1.3 seconds). My second thought was, “You’re right. I ‘m busted. I was wrong.” I actually needed that correction at that moment. I had slipped back into a bad habit that I have worked hard to eliminate.
My third thought was that she was lucky that she honked at someone who got to the second thought quickly.
I’m not sure, in the current culture, that I would advise spending a lot of time honking to correct other drivers on the road. There are a lot of angry, and sometimes unstable, people out on the roadways. And not all of them are open to correction.
Proverbs 9:8-9 says, “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.”
I’m not suggesting that this stern-faced woman is lucky that she honked at wonderful, wise, and righteous Gerry. Seriously.
I am suggesting that the Bible teaches us to be discerning whether we are on the receiving end or delivering end of correction. I want to be wise enough to receive correction when it is necessary and to not waste my time giving it when it is neither desired nor welcome. Unsolicited advice or correction is seldom appreciated.
Unsolicited advice or correction is seldom appreciated. Click To Tweet
Our lives matter so much to God that He wants us to build relationships so that we can swim together in the pool of wisdom that He has given to the people in our community.
Thanks for sharing, my honking friend!
Question: How have you benefited from correction that was not initially appreciated?
