WISEACRES VS. THE WISE

365 Days of Thanksliving — Day 166

You know what a fussbudget is, don't you? Ya know, a sourpuss, a curmudgeon, a grouch, a killjoy wiseacre type. I bet you could name a person or two that exemplifies those mindsets. I know I can… (We have a couple in our church, though I’m pleading the fifth on names).

In every church, in every community, in every corporation, there's at least one or two of these types. I mean, think about it, there’s all kinds of flavors of people out there. Some are like Sour Patch Kids, and some are as sweet as honey. Then there are those who’re kinda salty; some who are sultry; and even those whose personalities are kinda savory. There are those who are Plain-Jane vanilla…. Oh my goodness, Jason Douglas, wrap it up, they get the point.

All of us have a default setting, if you will. That said, on any given day, our attitudes can shift as we all of a sudden adopt another flavor. (You gotta forgive me, we just got home from New Ulm. Date night and all. The wifey suggested we stop at “MN Eis” afterward, an old-fashioned malt shoppe downtown. Oh my! I had a malt—a mix of old-fashioned vanilla and “Zanzibar Chocolate”—and it was delightful. We’re not gonna count the calories, ‘cause I think she added about 5 scoops of the two, plus milk, a luscious chocolate syrup, and the malt powder to make that 16 oz masterpiece. I digress.)

Anyway, you know me; my personality tends to naturally drift toward the salty side of life. Tonight, however, I reverted back to my childhood default. Inadvertently, I’d become a full-blown grump and complainer—and not about anything in particular, but pretty much whatever was happening in the moment or whatever I happened to lay my eyes upon.

The odd thing was, in the back of my head, I knew it, but I wasn’t snapping out of it. Not until, that is, while sitting across the table at our favorite Tex-Mex digs, my wife looked right at me and said: “You sure are complaining a lot tonight. Get over yourself, dude!”

I had no retort. No witty comeback. What could I say? Nutt’n! All’s I could do was look inward and say, “Yup, she’s right.” In that moment, I could take the wife’s correction and change my attitude, or I could’ve doubled down and stayed in “grumpy old man” mode.

I decided to change, ‘cause honestly, being a sourpuss is exhausting; it just ruins everyone’s night. And… after all, we were out trying to enjoy ourselves, surrounded by a packed restaurant of people enjoying themselves, on a beautiful evening when how could one not enjoy the sights and sounds of spring in the air.

The fifteenth chapter of Proverbs is laced with wisdom about taking correction. Verses 31-32 say this:

“One who listens to life-giving rebukes will be at home among the wise. Anyone who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever listens to correction acquires good sense.” – Proverbs 15:31–32, CSB.

To that, all’s I can say is “Yup.” Tonight, I took my wife’s advice and wised up. And ya know, I feel all the better inside. I don’t know if I’ve written a post where I’ve foremost thanked my wife. And while I am eternally grateful for the woman I married (for countless reasons), this evening, I’m especially thankful she had the guts to look across the table and say, “Bonnicksen, straighten out your attitude.”

Sometimes we all need a bit of correction. How about you? Are you a wiseacre, or one who’s willing to listen, and therefore wise?