I find that I don’t receive suggestions easily. In fact, my wife, Lily, says I never like her suggestions.

The other day I was having a hard time coming up with an idea for this blog post. I asked Lily what she thought and she said, “Why don’t you write about how you never take my suggestions.”

Right away I didn’t like that suggestion, so I focussed on some other ideas I had. 

But as I began to think more about it, I think she’s right. I’m not really excited about the things she suggests. 

… And it’s not just blog post ideas either. 

Now and then at lunchtime I won’t know what to eat and Lily will say, “Why don’t you have …” and then rhyme off three or four options. 

There’s no way I will like any of them. I think it’s because I lean towards how I feel. I have to feel that the suggestion is right for me. 

I’ve always been this way. And it’s not just with food. 

I remember as a kid being bored out of my mind in the middle of summer. I’d say, “Mom, I’m bored; there’s nothing to do.”

Right off the top of her head she would list six ideas of what I could do … mind you at least two of them would involve some kind of work, like cleaning my room or tidying up the basement. 

But even the good ideas I never liked because I didn’t feel like it. 

So many times when something is suggested to me, it’s how I feel about it right then that keeps me from doing it. 

My kids were the same way when they were young. When they were hungry in the middle of the day or at bedtime … Wait, I can still hear them whine, “Mom, I’m huuungry!”

Lily’s response was always, “Have a banana.” 

The kids liked bananas and they ate them all the time, but they never wanted one when Lily suggested it. 

Maybe it’s not just me that has to feel good about the suggestion to act on it. Maybe we are all like that. 

Is it possible that for a suggestion to be well received it has to come in the right way at the right time in the right place?

I have been in meetings when someone suggested a solution to the problem we were working on and immediately it felt so right that we jumped all over it. 

But most of the time, I’m not really feeling the suggestions that I get from people. 

What I usually have to do is think about them for a while and, as I mull them over, sometimes an aspect of the suggestion starts to resonate. 

Then I can take that suggestion and run with it.

Hey, look at me! I actually wrote a post on a suggestion that Lily gave me. 

Who’d have thought!

Here’s the thing: There are times when we are confronted by sin in our lives. Maybe someone points it out, maybe it comes from inside you, but you don’t want to hear it. However, if you mull it over, that is when you start to feel the need to do something about it. Maybe you’ve heard about having Jesus in your life, but you’ve always responded that it’s not for you. Just mull it over and maybe you will feel differently about it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What suggestion have you finally received after mulling it over for a while?

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