My Way or the Highway

I have a problem.   I’m right 97% of the time.  I’m not bragging.  One of my kids told me this so it must be true. 

He said, “Mom, you know how things should be done and the order they should be done in.  You are right 97% of the time.”  Then he added, “It’s the 3% of the time, when you’re not right, when we have a problem.”  

Really!  This is not hanging at my house--maybe!

I laughed so hard when he told me this because first of all, I was very pleased that in his eyes I was right 97% of the time!   I was also equally aware of my own short comings—with such a high percentage of rightness it was super hard for me to believe I could be wrong…ever! 

True!

The word “wrong” it’s barely part of my vocabulary.   

A few years back, I went through a nightmare experience of thinking I was right—and in reality I was so far from right that I’d have to say…wait for it…I was “wrong.”  

It was a battle of epic degree as I stood my ground unmovable, unbendable, waving my flag that proudly stated, “My way or the highway.”   No one was following me and I stood painfully alone—believing I was right.  

During this season of rightness I took a walk to clear my mind.  I was listening to scripture on my Ipod.  (Yes, people still use Ipods.)    I thought, maybe the Lord would speak to me through his Word to encourage me and confirm to my heart that—yes, I was truly being treated unfairly in this tragic event of misguided boundaries!

And boy did He ever speak… Proverbs 14:1 “A wise woman builds her house and a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.”

The Lord was telling me loud and clear that I was firmly established in the 3%, that would be my narrow percentage of wrongness.   It was a direct blow to my wounded heart.  I was not being a wise woman.  I was the foolish one.  My attitude and actions were destroying my home.  I was pulling it down with my own hands and the Lord was very clear in calling me out.  

 “Foolish Woman!”  

 I asked the Lord to forgive me right then and there.   If I continued to demand “My Way or The Highway” I would have my way, but I would be alone.  I backed off that day and prayed that the damage I did was not irreversible.    And it wasn’t!  

You may be walking a similar path thinking you are right but don’t hold on to your “My Way or The Highway” flag to tightly.     You may just get your way—but in the process destroy your home. 

How right do you really want to be?