Proverbs 14 & 15 :: Back Back Back It Up

Let’s play a lil’ (not a little) catch up on the ol’ (not old) P-verbs.

Stand out from 14:

¹ Lady Wisdom builds a lovely home; Sir Fool comes along and tears it down brick by brick.

How many times has foolishness destroyed everything God built in our lives? Bonus points to the Message version for sounding like ‘Pride and Prejudice’.

Stand out from 15

This one was overflowing with insight.

¹⁶Better is a little with the fear of the LORD
Than great treasure and turmoil with it.

¹⁷Better is a dish of vegetables where love is
Than a fattened ox served with hatred.

¹⁹The way of the lazy is as a hedge of thorns,
But the path of the upright is a highway.

³³The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom,
And before honor comes humility.

I mean wow.

Shamwow.

I’m sorry, its Friday.

LR

Listening to: Needtobreathe

On my mind: Some call me Electronica. This has nothing to do with my dance moves.

Proverbs 13 :: Wise Guy

Today I woke up and was all, “Happy Friday” to myself but then I realized it wasn’t Friday. And then I realized that’s ok because I work from home so every day kind of feels like Friday.

Happy Day.

Today’s P-verb has so much goodness to it I can hardly pick something to highlight.

But today, for me, verse 20 is the winner.

He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will suffer harm.(NASB)

Become wise by walking with the wise;
hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces. (Msg)

What does it look like to walk with the wise versus hang in a flock of fools?

Another juicy one that jumped out at me was verse 23

A poor man’s field may produce abundant food,
but injustice sweeps it away (NIV)

Today, countless injustices are happening. Endless amounts of people are being oppressed by poverty, disease, hunger, abuse. And they need our help. In fact, God demands our help.

Check out ways to put injustice in a half nelson:

Visit http://unitedagainstmalaria.org/

Text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to @RedCrossrelief efforts

Raise Awareness. National Human Trafficking Awareness Day was on Monday. http://notforsaleco.org/

LR

Listening to: Conference callllllllllllsssss

On my mind: The first episodes of American Idol are such an emotional roller coaster.

Proverbs 12:: Being Ordinary?

Some tasty tidbits from today’s chapter:

• vs.3 You can’t find firm footing in a swamp, but life rooted in God stands firm. (Love this. What am I rooting my life in? What swamps have I been trying to find footing in?)
• vs. 9 Better to be ordinary and work for a living than act important and starve in the process. (Boom. How comfortable am I being ordinary?)
• vs. 23 The diligent find freedom in their work; the lazy are oppressed by work. (I’m going to have to carry this one around today. Hmm.)

Well, coffee’s done.

LR

Listening to: I may or may not have stayed up until 3 AM catching up on Brother’s and Sisters.

On my mind: Last night’s Bachelor! I know that’s probably a sticky swamp to put your feet in but “On the wings of love” is practically irresistible. I wanna be an ABC intern and handle stuff like starting the hot tub, hiring Chicago and laying rose petals everywhere.

Proverbs 11: Save Your Breath

CS Lewis has a saying, “I better save my breath for my own porridge”

And I love that. It is also the perfect intro to today’s Proverb which deals in part with guarding our tongue from evil.

Worth noting:

Here are the things that happen when we run our mouths without censor

Neighbors are destroyed

Upright cities are torn down

Secrets are revealed

People fall

Basically mayhem and chaos abound when we let our mouths do as they please.

Favorite verse:

²²As a ring of gold in a swine’s snout
So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.

I

love

that

visual.

I also love the word ‘snout’. But thats neither here nor there.

But as I have been reading this chapter, I have thought much about my uncanny ability to run my mouth. In fact, my mouth could probably qualify for the Boston Marathon. So when I think of the word ‘discretion’ it just punches me in the stomach.

Methinks it’s a great reminder to “save my breath for my own porridge”.

LR

Listening to: Our bodyguard neighbor revving the engine on his truck. Is he waiting for one of us to run out swooning?

On my mind: Conflict is my kryptonite.

Conversation with Myself

I was thinking the other day about two things I want to do more of:

Read the Bible and blog. (In that order, I swear)

I have been toying with ways to combine the two when suddenly an idea hit me (that was not my own)

“Dude,” I said out loud (because who doesn’t refer to themselves as dude?), “Proverbs!”

I’ve lost you haven’t I?

Let me explain.  Our church here in Nashville is taking January to go through the book of Proverbs. They’re calling it the “31 Day Challenge” (I think I’m just calling it “Stuff I’m Learning from Proverbs in January” (packs a punch eh?)

ANYWAY, it’s already day 11 so we’ve missed some good stuff, but I’m not a stickler for rules (go figure) so starting today I will be blogging through Proverbs and highlighting, well, “stuff I’m learning”. Inspired yet?

LR

P.S. Check out the 31 Days site and Pete’s blog for more on Proverbs. 99% chance you will learn more there.

Listening to: We watched a Hallmark TV movie last night and it got me thinking: how many cards do they create out of the cheesy lines in their movies? Or vice versa?

On my mind: Who gets the job of naming these prescription drugs on tv. Abilify? That is pure genius.