Are you breathing your own exhaust?

Whose opinion do you value? When you need advice, are there those that you can turn to? How do you know the difference between a good decision and a bad one?

Often, I act upon my own thoughts and charge ahead, confident in my judgment, absorbed with the liberation of my choice. But far too often, the bridge ahead is out and if only I would have listened to someone else, I could have stopped this foolish course.

Most of us tend to be self-absorbed in our decision-making process. We think we have the answers and asking another’s opinion is a sign of weakness. It is the wise person that tests ideas and thoughts and plans with a friend.

Sure, God gave us brains to think and reason. But as experience teaches us, we aren’t always thinking with the noggins that we are blessed with. Feelings, prejudices and the failings of our flesh derail good decisions.

God loves it when we seek counsel to test our thoughts against the judgment of a disinterested person that is grounded in Christ’s teaching, steeped in the Bible’s knowledge. This person who has no agenda can help.

Sucking our own exhaust can have an intoxicating quality – and a disastrous end.