{"id":2230,"date":"2016-01-12T04:00:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/temp.dianaderringer.com\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2021-01-08T11:41:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T16:41:50","slug":"go-against-the-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/go-against-the-grain\/","title":{"rendered":"Go Against the Grain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/temp.dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Go-Against-the-Grain-2-morguefile6631240571960.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2233\" src=\"https:\/\/temp.dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Go-Against-the-Grain-2-morguefile6631240571960.jpg\" alt=\"Go Against the Grain 2 morguefile6631240571960\" width=\"334\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Go-Against-the-Grain-2-morguefile6631240571960.jpg 334w, https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Go-Against-the-Grain-2-morguefile6631240571960-228x300.jpg 228w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 334px) 100vw, 334px\" \/><\/a>If we work with wood, we don\u2019t usually go against the grain. We work in the natural direction of the wood\u2019s fibers. That is true whether we work with new wood or old. It is also true whether we:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Sand the wood to make it smooth<\/li>\n<li>Paint or stain it<\/li>\n<li>Clean or polish it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Years ago, I put new stain on a beautiful piece of furniture. In one spot, I brushed against the grain. That one mistake <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/stand-out\/\">stood out <\/a>from all the rest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In life, if we go against the grain, we go against what we want to do. That often means <a href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/stand-firm\/\">standing firm\u00a0<\/a> against popular opinion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Our natural desire leads us to follow the crowd. Standing firm for what we believe can be difficult when few people stand with us. Yet, the crowd is not always right.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">So how do we decide the direction to go?<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Avoid<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Going along with everyone else just because it is easy<\/li>\n<li>Going against the grain simply for attention<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\">Do<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li>Educate ourselves<\/li>\n<li>Choose what is right, whether it goes against the grain or not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cHold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil\u201d (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 NIV).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Thanks to Suellen Shaw for the idea.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Do you have an expression you want explained? If so, please comment below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/xP7HL\">Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email<\/a> and receive a free copy of \u201cWords of Hope for Days that Hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Photo courtesy of morgueFile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If we work with wood, we don\u2019t usually go against the grain. We work in the natural direction of the wood\u2019s fibers. That is true whether we work with new wood or old. It is also true whether we: Sand the wood to make it smooth Paint or stain it Clean or polish it Years ago, I put new stain on a beautiful piece of furniture. In one spot, I brushed against the grain. That one mistake stood out from&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/go-against-the-grain\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,8,7,9],"tags":[37,677,923,1260,1258,347,889,925,1259,1261,340,924],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-peace","category-problems","category-relationships","category-self-improvement","category-wisdom","tag-decisions","tag-devotion","tag-diana-derringer","tag-follow-the-crowd","tag-go-against-the-grain","tag-grain","tag-idioms","tag-life-lessons-from-english-expressions","tag-popular-opinion","tag-stand-up-for-whats-right","tag-wood","tag-words-wit-and-wisdom"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Go Against the Grain - Diana Derringer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In life, if we go against the grain, we go against what we want to do. That often means standing firm against popular opinion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dianaderringer.com\/go-against-the-grain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Go Against the Grain - Diana Derringer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In life, if we go against the grain, we go against what we want to do. 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