The Strange Twist To Following ALL The Rules

In the previous post I talked about being a rules follower. If you haven't read it, check it out! In it I talked about why, over the course of my life, I always tend to follow the rules. But there's the strange twist to my life story. Though I always followed the rules, I never liked being just another face in the crowd. I relished the idea of going upstream while everyone else went downstream. If a movie was a huge hit, then I refused to watch it.

While I may follow the rules, I have an urge to question, just a little, and go against the grain. I have the urge to, dare I say it, rebel. If everyone in a room likes to go to a certain seat when entering, then I would steal someone else's seat just stir things up.

It's funny how I can easily go from being a conformist to a non-conformist. Maybe it has something to do with my desire to stand out, even though I don't like the spotlight. There have been times when I'm more like the younger brother in the story of the prodigal son. I go completely against the grain of conventional wisdom. I can say that I haven't really caused any trouble in this, so I guess I'm just minor offender in this area.

The younger brother went completely against the grain of his family and society. How dare he ask for his inheritance early! How dare he treat his father as if he were dead!

Well, not so fast. Maybe, just maybe, it was a good thing for him to go against the grain. We wouldn't have many of the inventions we have today, much less the technology, if people weren't going against the grain. The person that readily pops into my mind is Magellan. Conventional wisdom said the world was flat. Magellan spit in the face of conventional wisdom and proved that the earth was round.

If the younger son never went against grain of his culture, then he never would've gotten the chance to learn a valuable life lesson. He learned that no matter what he did or could ever do, the father will still love him unconditionally. There's nothing that can be done to separate him from the love of his father.

Could the younger son have learned that lesson another way? Maybe...but we'll never find out. He learned the way Jesus tells us he learned it. Going against the grain can lead to amazing results.

What about you? When was a time you went against conventional wisdom? What was the result? What did you learn?