What is the single most important quality a person can possess?
When I was a boy growing up in Chesapeake, I used to spend much of my summer and holiday vacations working with my grandfather on his farm. The farm was located in Virginia Beach not far from Sand bridge. Granddad raised cows, horses, pigs, and turkeys. It was more of a hobby for him than a real farm, but caring for animals is a demanding task even if it is for fun.
What I enjoyed about those times was working with my grandfather. He had a wit that kept daily chores interesting and a laugh that brightened the dullest days. One day he and I were hanging barbed wire fencing around the back lot. That was the chore I enjoyed least. On one occasion I pulled the wire too tight with the winch and it exploded all around me. One doesn’t forget those experiences.
One day while cranking the winch Granddad asked a particularly strange question. He asked what I thought was the single most important quality a person should possess. I raced through my mind for potential answers to his question. Could it be hard work? I had watched him work hard all my young life and he seemed to do it with a passion. Or could it be family? It was always fun to go to the “country” to visit my grandparents because they always gave me the gift of feeling like I made their day by visiting. Everyone should have those people in their lives whose faces brighten up just because you entered the room.
Perhaps Granddad thought commitment to church and faith was the most important quality a person could possess, I wondered. He certainly modeled that well for all of us in the family. The Baptist minister was a regular visitor to their home.
As I reflected on each of these possibilities, it occurred to me that Granddad wasn’t really looking for an answer from me. He had come to some conviction of his own that he wanted to share with me. So I said I didn’t know, which was certainly the truth. This is what he said the single most important quality a person could possess was: “Be Teachable.”
I treasure that word from him. Of all the things he could have said, he chose a different word – teachable. I’m glad he did. It’s a hopeful word for people who know they have often acted foolishly and would like to think they could do better.
Also, over the years I have come to love the “space” that being teachable gives. It is like walking up to the fence of what you don’t know and looking over that fence into a whole field of wide open spaces yet to be discovered. I can walk up to the fence of what I don’t know rather quickly in just about every arena of my life. I can walk up to the fence of what I don’t know in science swiftly, but when I peer into the field of what can be learned I get excited. I can walk up to the fence of what I don’t know about leadership and look over that fence into a wide open field of possibilities. The same can be said of faith, church, family, and friends.
I think this is what the psalmist had in mind when he penned these words in Psalm 25: “Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me …”
