October 22, 2010
Regret – the one thing besides maybe chicken pox or any other communicable disease that no one wants. Just mention the word “regret” in any social setting and watch the faces around the room. Flickers of past regret will register in the eyes of some people; others will begin mentioning regrets or steps they are employing to avoid them. Inevitably the conversation will turn to how to live a life without regrets.
It’s interesting to listen to the litany of issues people often regret. Of course, they will say they are disappointed they didn’t spend…
October 14, 2010
“The one who guards his mouth preserves his life; the one who opens wide his mouth comes to ruin.” Proverbs 13:3
Places that hold valuables must be guarded. For example, banks, museums and certain historical locations are all closely monitored to keep treasures in their proper location. Sometimes information is the thing to be carefully concealed and to retrieve it you must have a code or a password. It might even take going through security more than once.
An ancient Arab story illustrates our Proverb today with a vivid visual. The narrative begins with, “The words…
October 8, 2010
Reading through Proverbs can sometimes feel a bit disjointed. It’s not narrative in nature and the subject matter jumps around quite a bit. But at the end of the fourth chapter, there seems to be a series of connections that begin with a warning to “watch over your heart”.
“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23
That verse in itself would be enough to catch our attention. It holds a warning about the wellspring of our life, which is serious business indeed. …
September 25, 2010
Ponder or Pour?
Think fast! We live and work in a time of instantaneous decision-making and constant communication. As soon as the situation is assessed, a verdict is pronounced and with the push of a button (SEND) we can let as many people as we desire know the determined outcome. We’ve become so accustomed to this way of living, anything else seems too sluggish and time consuming. We are all about saving time. But Proverbs 15:28 offers us this principle:
“The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours out…
September 21, 2010
In a previous blog, we explored the theme “A time to keep Silent” while relating to others. Just as there are seasons of silence with others, there are also seasons of life that may require that we keep silent while relating to God.
Ecclesiastes 5: 1-2 reads, “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen….Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
Often in my personal time with…
September 16, 2010
“A time to be silent and a time to speak” – Ecclesiastes 3: 7
In our previous blog we explored that there is a time to keep silent in a season of relating to others. But now, we see that Solomon is demonstrating that he understands women, in particular, when he acknowledges that there is “a time to speak” (not that women ever need permission to speak). However, there is some wisdom in knowing when to break the silence and speak and one season of speaking is when we are relating to God on behalf of others.
Proverbs 31: 8-9…
September 7, 2010
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…”
(Ecclesiastes 3: 1)
“A time to be silent and a time to speak…”
(Ecclesiastes 3:7)
A time to be silent? Something just seems so wrong about that verse! Surely God knows women read the Bible! Surely He knows that women use twice as many words a day as men (probably because we have to repeat everything we say to them). Yet, if Solomon, the wisest man in the entire world, suggests that there is a time to be silent, it must be so. However, when…
September 2, 2010
“Life can be full of tough choices.” These words caught my eye earlier this week as I was “going about” row after row of cards in a local Hallmark store. Inside the card, the tough choice was revealed, “Dessert or Appetizer?” along with a $5 gift card that could be used at one of four choice restaurants.
Life can be full of tough choices when it comes to choosing food.
Life can also be full of tough choices when it comes to choosing words.
“He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.”
…
August 24, 2010
The headline immediately caught my eye: “Words again haunting Senate hopeful” – I didn’t read the article so I’m not sure what was uttered that could hurt the candidate’s bid for political office but one thing is for sure – something that was said is now being regretted.
Words matter. We often hear people in the public eye make apologies for remarks said in haste or anger. Sometimes they even have to own up to comments voiced “off mike” or “off the record” if it actually is captured and broadcast to the masses.
While we can’t avoid talking altogether, we can…
August 19, 2010
For many years I lived near a coastal region in the southern part of the country near the Gulf of Mexico. Every spring tornadoes would roar through our area and by the time that storm season had subsided, the hurricanes would start forming and swirling out in the ocean waters. We would often watch the weather forecast with a wary eye for though we were not close enough to the coast to receive a direct hit, when the storms came on shore, we often felt the effects for several days.
One year a storm came that required a mandatory evacuation;…
