be a student not a critic

this is something i must have heard Andy Stanley say a hundred times over the years.

"be a student not a critic"

it's something i think i've naturally tried to live out since i was 17 or 18... maybe even earlier in broader contexts.

i hope i can stay that way. every once in a while as i get all old... i sense the critic sneaking into my life. but i want to fight hard to stay the student i've always been.

because i would be a whole lot dumber if i had been a critic instead of a student all these years.
i can't even imagine all the great stuff i would have missed if i had been criticizing instead of learning.

i think this really comes down to pride for most of us. if i can stay humble, then i can probably stay a student.

but if pride takes over - that's when i'm tempted to be a critic. because i think i'm better, smarter, wiser, than the other ... therefore, i can't possibly have anything to learn from that.

what an awful way to live.

i have tried to live my life with an attitude of:

i want to learn from anybody or anything at any time and anywhere.

that's my goal and i hope i can always live that way.

i hope that even when i see, hear, experience stuff that is 95% awful... i can be a student and learn from the other 5%.

i'm not too good for it.

and i certainly never want to be a critic. somebody stop me if i turn into one.