Border plants Information

At church one Sunday, the Preacher used an illustration about plants to illuminate his sermon. (The illustration was about how the root system of potted Border Plants needs to be disturbed and teased out when being planted out, to get the strongest plants for your time, money & effort.)

Now if there is any one less likely to know about this subject other than him, I’ve yet to meet them. Yet to his credit he is not afraid to admit this and openly did so whilst crediting the information to an expert on the subject.

How about you? Are you likely to listen to information from someone you consider unlikely to know what they are talking about because you don’t consider them personally knowledgeable on that subject? Or are you prepared to at least listen, even if you reserve the right to decide later?

Is it more important for you to know something from first hand information or to learn from someone else who doesn’t know from personal experience but does know where to access it from, and how to pass it on to those in need?

Many years ago one of my Uncles, who was a Chronic Asthmatic, was complaining to Dad about this new young Dr. he had recently been to see. It appears that the Dr. was not overtly an expert on the specific treatment/medication needed and had to look up a book or two to work out what was needed. This didn’t particularly impress my Uncle and he was letting everyone know so. However a couple of questions from Dad brought him to a grudging admission, that maybe the Dr wasn’t that bad after all.

Dad first asked whether the treatment worked. To which my Uncle openly expressed that it was working better than anything he had previously tried. Dad then asked then what did it matter if he had to look it up first? Isn’t it better to be sure, when you are not, before you act? To this My Uncle had no argument and reluctantly agreed that maybe the Doc wasn’t as bad as he thought, and would even improve as his experience grew.

Again I ask, are you more impressed with the Messenger and not the message? Providing that it is correct, does it matter one iota whether it comes via a book or someone else. The important thing is the correctness of the information, irregardless of the source.

Actually, that is not true, the really important thing is what you do with the information you have received.

My Uncle could have disregarded this “New” “Unproven” chap, and gone elsewhere and settled for the same old, not as effective treatment that he had previously been getting. Or he could do what he did, even though not totally convinced; he tried it out and proved it not only effective but also superior to previous treatments.

What about you? Are you prepared to try something different without grumbling, until you know if it works?

As a disclaimer I have to admit that not everything we hear is correct, and we do need to be careful of blindly following every new idea and doctrine on offer, but there are times when we need to heed the advice on offer, despite, in our opinion at least, their lack of experience in that field.

We also need to give credit where credit is due and not to go on whining like my uncle did until Dad pulled him up.

What about you? Are you moaning when there is really nothing to moan about, or will you give things ago and give credit where credit is due? Walter