Anyone Want Some Advice?

I am in a situation right now, where I am giving incredible advice. I have told the person exactly what the repercussions will be of a variety of decisions, and told them which decision would be the best course of action for them to take. While I know my wisdom in this area of expertise is amazingly thorough, I still cannot make these people believe that my 17 years of experience as a real estate agent, including seven as a real estate instructor and ten as an attorney, really allow me to speak with expertise.

On the other hand, they are listening to the advice of another counselor, who probably knows a fair amount also. Although from my vantage point, I can see they are clearly excited about the fact that they can receive money from their advice. It isn't that they are giving necessarily bad advice, so much as that it is advice that is motivated by extra factors.

While I am on the outside, I can see this so clearly. Similarly, when I see my children doing things, I can often see that they are making the incorrect decision. The deal is, though, that as they start to age, my requirement that they follow my advice cuts off their ability to grow into learning the correct decisions themselves. I'm sure this is my something my parents struggled with also (although, I was the perfect decision-maker at the earliest of ages).

So the balancing act of when to allow them to start making decisions is a difficult one, but when you are dealing with people whom you are only working with, that ability was never present. So, how do we stand on our advice without trampling their individuality, yet let them know that we are knowledgeable on a subject and what should happen?

That is the predicament in which I find myself. I need to give advice and then just rest in the fact that I am not responsible for whether or not they take it. Allowing God to work in their lives through the wisdom I give without understanding whether or not they listened to me is tough. As Baz Luhrman says, "Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it!"

It is also difficult to understand that there is someone out there giving advice completely contrary to mine and knowing that it is not as sound. Nevertheless, I can let my character and knowledge speak for themselves and take comfort in the fact that I am a legend in my own mind with my penchant for absolute correct-ness.:)