In 1884 a young man died, and after the funeral his grieving parents decided to establish a memorial to him. With this in mind, they made an appointment to meet with Charles, Eliot, president of Harvard University.
Eliot received the unpretentious couple into his office and asked what he could do for them. After they expressed their desire to fund a memorial, Eliot impatiently said, “Perhaps you have in mind a scholarship?”
The woman shook her head. “We were thinking of something more substantial than that. Perhaps…a building.”
In a patronizing tone, Eliot brushed aside the idea as being too expensive, and the couple quietly departed.
The next year, the Harvard president learned that this seemingly-ordinary couple had gone elsewhere with their memorial idea. They established a 26 million dollar memorial named Leland Stanford Junior University—known today as Stanford University.
Solomon wrote: “He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.” The apostle James added, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak” (Proverbs 18:13; James 1:19, nkjv).
When you and I quickly make up our mind about an individual or a situation, without seeking the Holy Spirit’s counsel, we may end up forfeiting the wisdom, favor, or unlooked-for opportunity that God had in mind for us.