I'm Not God, But I Often Think I Am

In Ezekiel 28:1 the prophet admonishes the king for making himself a God, relying on his own wisdom and power, acting without waiting for the discernment of God’s will. I’d like to say I never do that, but I do, and often. I ask for God’s blessing to do what I deem best and plunge ahead, not waiting for his answer. Other times, I follow his will, but out of my own desires, not his.

I also make myself a god when I judge others, playing the Pharisee to the tax collector, extolling my virtues over theirs. If I’d never act the way they do, then they must be wrong. 

Are You Listening?

Photo by Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net        

I don't always listen. Even in my more advanced age, I still act like a willful child and try my way first. Sometimes that’s a good idea, other times I pay a painful price for not heeding the advice of those more experienced.

One of those painful lessons happened recently. Writing pros suggest one of the best methods of self-editing and proofreading is to read the text aloud. I tried, but found the chore tedious, not to mention tough on the voice, and in my infinite wisdom decided to skip that part. Oh, I did submit the manuscript to my critique partner and to Beta Readers, but after implementing their suggestions and corrections, I took it upon myself to make some further changes. Not wrong, by any means, until I did the proofreading myself, without showing it to anyone else, or following the pros advice to read the new text aloud.

The result? I am now hanging my head in shame over simple mistakes that could have been avoided, if only I had listened to those who tried to advise me. I am going through each book and correcting the errors, but I cringe thinking about how many flawed copies are now floating around out there in cyberspace — forever — because of my laziness, not to mention stubbornness.