Needing help isn’t weakness
Carne Adovada and sopapilla, Jeff’s rec
RPG and St. Francis Church
My two years in Taos transformed my life—giving me challenges and encouragement to enter the ministry, making lifelong deep friends. Something about the plains yielding to the mountains, the striking crystal-clear blue sky, the blend of three cultures, and soul thrilling outdoor options. I suspected John Denver had been reading my mail in his line, “He was born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a place he’d never been before.” I came, I saw, I loved it, I knew it.
But when Rich and I rode into Taos last summer, much had changed. Just one favored restaurant remained, Michael’s Kitchen, so we planned on dinner there our first night. A big surprise arrived: they no longer served dinner. We found a nearby substitute, quite blah. The kind you’d find in Minnesota.
So I phoned a Taos friend (text, actually), Jeff Boyer, whose family’s Taos roots go back to the 1800s. His dad ran the Kit Carson Museum for decades. Jeff was born and raised in Taos, until recently moving to Kentucky for family reasons. An archeologist who’s overseeing a refurbishing of the Kit Carson home, so he knows Taos. My request: a nice restaurant with Taos/New Mexico style of food.
He suggested two, but only one served sopapillas, the classic local deep fried bread with a pocket. Just bite off a corner, drizzle honey in, and welcome to taste bud heaven. Ranchos Plaza Grill, south of Taos, next to the famous and much photographed Saint Francis de Asis adobe church. The food and sopapillas exceeded Jeff’s recommendation. I hadn’t known it existed, now I recommend.
I became humble enough to seek advice from someone who knew far more than I about all things Taos. That’s a learned skill. My earlier weak self-confidence caused a surface attitude of arrogance, and asking for help demonstrated weakness. I’d rather be wrong than admit any form of wussiness. But upon returning to God at 23, I caught on to his view of me, much higher than my own. So I no longer had to “prove my worth” by standing strong and being wrong.
That’s a long and involved lead in to our takeaway here: a wise person shouldn’t hesitate to ask advice from those who know more. On any realm. Faith or food in Taos or whatever. One caveat, though. Don’t ignore advice from anyone, even a blind dog hits the barn at times, so listen to all, verify it, but give the most weight to those a few steps ahead of you.
I was wise enough to not play the fool, “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice” (Proverbs 12:15).
Feel free to do the same.
Kick Starting the Application
How easy is it for you to ask advice? What lies behind that? What makes you hesitate in seeking solutions? Do you have a go-to person for things of faith that you feel safe in sharing your weaknesses? If not, can you begin identifying some candidates?