Reverend Sean McIntyre, Centralia United Methodist Church
I believe that people, but Christians especially, should spend way more time paying attention to and talking about the things they are for than the things they are against. That being said, I will let you know what I am for, but in light of something I am against, because do you know what I dislike that I bet you do too? 
Unsolicited advice. I bet if you look back at any life change you have experienced and you can recall receiving plenty of unsolicited advice. If you move, if you change jobs, if you get engaged, if you get married, if you have kids, if you go to college, if you enter the workforce, if you retire, if you become an empty nester…..you get the picture. I can’t tell you how much unsolicited advice I received before I got married and while raising our first child. People mean well and are probably just trying to save us from experiencing some hardship that they did. But, do you know what a new marriage or new parents need more than your advice? They need your support. Christian author Bob Goff said, “People need love and acceptance a lot more than they need advice.” In the digital age where everyone’s opinion is readily available on social media and instructional videos and blogs are plastered everywhere, people need your advice even less than they ever have. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have wisdom to offer. In fact, I know you absolutely do. But, our wisdom is absolutely useless if it doesn’t come from a foundation of love and support.
For the complete column, see this week’s edition of the Centralia Fireside Guard
