I only have 2 resolutions left as I finish this series on the 70 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Resolution #69 says…

“Resolved, Always to do that, which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it.”

There is too much emphasis these days on always being original. If we’re not careful, this paradigm can lead us to a place where we refuse to learn from those around us. My Uncle Tommy sometimes says that he aspires to be “a student of life and a student for life.” I really like that because it means he always wants to be learning.

We tend to make snap judgments about those around us. We think that we can put the pieces and clues together quickly after relatively limited interactions with another person. The reality however, is that people are incredibly complex. We can’t even fully understand ourselves let alone someone else. Appreciating the complexity of others will lead to us learning from them as well.

When I see someone do something that I wish I had done, I have a couple of choices in terms of my response. If I’m at dinner with a bunch of friends and someone at the table says that they want something, someone else at the table may choose to get up and get it before me. Perhaps the reason that I didn’t get up and get it is because I was enjoying my food and didn’t want to be bothered. In other words, I was being selfish. I may look at the person who got up and think that they’re just showing off and that they made me look bad. This would obviously not be an ideal response. What Edwards is saying in this resolution is that he would choose to learn from that person. The next time someone at the table said they wanted something, Edwards probably would have gotten up to get it because he had learned from the previous experience.

People are doing good things around us all the time and taking on this particular resolution would help us to grow more quickly. Instead of judging or feeling jealous when someone does something that we wish we had done, we’ll learn from them and grow from their example. What will your response be?