Naivete

Do you ever think about how naive some of us are?

Being naive--in many instances--can be the downfall of a number of people.  When women have been sheltered from the "nasty side" of life, they can and usually do, misread people and form unhealthy alliances.  The wise person, no matter how naive, will eventually see the error of the judgment and regroup to renew their purpose in life.  The experiences we have--good and bad--help to forge and mold the foundation on which we attempt to build a life--worth living.

Of course, some people never get past the naive stage of life because they refuse to accept reality and instead choose to live in an idealistic world that has no basis for a sound foundation.  I'm sure we all know some of those people--the ones who always think:

• That man who abuses them, will change.
• That woman who is selfish and self-centered, will change.
• That stubborn, strong-willed child, change
• That a life of poverty, will change, even though they are going to do absolutely nothing.
• Those who suffer from addictions, will change, even though they won't acknowledge them.
• They'll get a better job, even though they do nothing to make it happen.
• They will achieve greatness, but never do great things.
• They will be loved, but never love anyone but self.
• The grass is greener on the side, but never venture to see--what it really is that makes it appear that way.
• Their circumstances will change, but never make better choices.

They are naive and have not recognized it, yet!

There is a place for naivete in life--the innocence we all share about some things that keeps us from abhorring life altogether.  However, naivete should not become our "journey in life" without understanding that if it does, we'll never receive all that God has promised us.

Once the innocence is gone, most of us handle reality fairly well.  We recognize all we must do in order to accomplish what we want without waiting for someone to hand it to us.  We learn to make sound decisions based on the mistakes we made in the past.  We learn to be more discerning in our establishment of relationships and we reach a place in our lives where we learn accountability--for self, to self, and towards others.  We learn that when life hands us lemons, we can make lemonade.  We learn that if even when we fall, we can get up and start anew.  We learn that taking a wrong path doesn't mean we have to stay on it.

Most importantly, we learn that none of us has all the answers and we don't even know all the questions. As long as we live, we should look forward to learning something new every day.  The longer we live, the more we understand, just how naive we were--when we first began our life's journey.