Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Quiet Company

Woodland Stewardship Institute
~Premier Safety Bulletin~

Not Quiet Safe Yet ?

This is an all important safety principle. It's a fact that most just don't quiet understand.

What is the first safety rule? I have often thought it was attitude. Attitude is everything right? Well quiet is an attitude. An attitude of reverence. Reverence is the product of respect. Respect for Nature. Respect for each other. Respect for everything God has made.
Then I have thought many times that, knowing how to think, is the first and most important rule. Thomas Edison said, "The most important task of civilization is not more inventions or technology. It is to teach people to think." [somewhat paraphrased]. This goes right back to that old saying, "There's no such thing as teaching, only learning." What good is it to teach all the safety business if your students haven't really learned the real principles behind it?
Another term you might use is legalism. Legalistic people are everywhere, believe me. The perfect example of this was Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith show. He was a coward, a bumbling fool. He tried to make up for it by following the letter of the law. He couldn't think for himself. He had no common sense. He could not understand the true intent of the law. The reason for it all? He didn't know true Love. He was self centered.
Let me explain it another way. "Work without faith is vanity." Have you ever been on a job with someone who worked twice as hard as everyone, trying to make up for their constant errors. Have you heard the old saying, "Work smart not hard."? The Law is just a list of work to be done. Faith is the spiritual wisdom that is behind it. Knowing the Law can actually be dangerous if you don't know the Law Giver. The second half of the Law which is just as important as the first, is to love others, but even helping the poor is all vanity, without faith. It's just something to make you feel good, unless you are really concerned and always "THINKING" about how you can lift them up to your level, or more.
So, quiet is about taking the time to think. Taking the time to listen to your conscience. Most accidents are the result of some stupid mistake. Caught off guard. Not paying attention to what matters. Thinking you know everything you need to know. Being so overconfident you don't have to think about what you are doing.
You have to constantly make an effort to think. You have to constantly invent the safest way to perform, every moment. If your mind is full of garbage from spending all your free time listening or watching some idiot box, your just coasting along. Reminds me of the old saying, "Only dead fish roll with the flow." and the opposite of that, "Satan yields to uphill traffic."
Remember God knows everything. As soon as you think you know something. You become your own god. You can't save yourself. Just following all the rules is no guarantee.
Fortunate is the man who is not distracted with the idols of this world, who is not impressed with the world and it's ways. "But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in His Law doth he meditate day and night." Psalm 1.

No comments: