Some years ago, the men where I go to church had a spaghetti dinner. It was an opportunity for us to enjoy a meal together and to socialize. Today, we’d use paper plates and plastic ware for such events, but back then, people brought plates, glasses, and silverware from home.

After the meal, I was washing dishes in the church’s small kitchen, and a friend of mine was drying. I said, “Wow, this is a really nice plate.”

He said, “Do you like it? My wife just bought a set of them. They’re called Corelle Ware.”

And I said, “Very nice.”

And he said, “Not only do they look good, but if you drop them, they don’t break. Watch.”

He let the plate slip from his fingers. It hit the floor, bounced up five or six inches, then hit the floor again. On the first hit it didn’t break, but on the second, it exploded, scattering shards and slivers all over the floor. This was so unexpected, I couldn’t help but laugh. My friend, however, didn’t laugh. He stood looking down at the unbreakable plate and said woefully, “I am in such trouble.”

We learn to think before we act by not thinking before we act.

The grandson of a friend of mine had a religious upbringing, as did his closest buddies. These young men were accepted into a church-affiliated university and planned, after a year there, to take a break to serve for two years as missionaries. It wasn’t something they were forced to do, it was something they very much wanted to do.

After graduating high school, they were hanging out and one of them said, “I have never tasted alcohol. Have you?”

They all shook their heads.

“How about—just this once—we try it. Just to know what it feels like to get drunk. Then we will repent and never do it again.”

They agreed, got some alcohol (beer probably), and proceeded to get drunk. The more they drank, the funnier everything became. They were laughing and acting silly and having a good time.

One of the guys said, “We should go hunting.” This was immediately accepted as a great idea.

They lived in Idaho. They had pickup trucks and they had hunting rifles. Laughing and hooting and continuing to drink, they drove off into the wilderness, looking for game. And their hunt was successful. They shot a small herd of elk.

The elk, it turned out, were on federal land and were federally protected. The guys, including my friend’s grandson, were arrested and arraigned before a federal judge who was not at all sympathetic to their situation. They were each convicted of a felony.

Learning to think before we act comes through experience. Some spur-of-the-moment decisions break plates, while others, sadly, break lives. All of us suffer from consequences that we didn’t foresee or intend. And if we could go back, knowing what we know now, we’d make better decisions. That’s called growth.

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