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"Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding." ~Proverbs 4:7 (NIV) I can still remember the first time I ever read from the book of Proverbs. We were sitting in Youth Group and my cousin, a few years my senior, bumped me on the leg and pointed to her Bible. There I read "Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife" (Proverbs 21:9, NIV). We snickered and then instead of paying attention to whatever the Youth Pastor...
"Lefty-loosie, righty-tightey." "A pint a pound the world around." These are little concise sayings we commit to memory to help us remember things. They illustrate a truth. This is what a proverb is. In the Bible, there is a whole book of Proverbs – sayings of the wise which are spiritually practical and show us how to behave as a good human being. They cover a wide scope of situations. There are 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs, which means that you can read one for each day of the month. O...
During the winter I tend to hibernate. I eat snacks and cookies and enjoy going to bed as early as possible. This is how I cope with the long, dark days of winter. Eventually spring rolls around and the days begin to get lighter and warmer, prompting me to get my spring and summer clothes out. That's when I always notice that the cookies, snacks and naps during hibernation were not kind to me. It happened again this year – my trusty shorts and T-shirts seemed to have shrunk over the winter. A...
When I was little, my family would take a day now and then to go swimming at Canoe Creek or Lake Raystown. If we were feeling especially daring, we would get my dad to carry us out where the water was deep. (Deep to us little kids, but not that deep for Dad.) There was an element of danger involved because we all know how dads play with kids in the water. Just go to the lake sometime and watch. Dads love to throw kids in the water. They also love to pretend to throw kids in the water and bobble...
Thanks to a lack of proper purging in my house, I happened to find an old newspaper clipping that made me giggle. It was a list of 10 items titled "Look-and See Signs of Aging" as well as a full blown article on caring for seniors and what to look for to indicate they may be in decline. Quite unfortunately, I had not written down the date or the source from which I had obtained it. Here is what it said: • "Look in refrigerator, freezer and drawers. Has food spoiled because mom can't get to the g...
Sometimes it is best to just be in the moment. Sometimes it's best to look around and be thankful for the beauty around us. Embrace the order of creation, don't try to alter it. It is as it should be already. Our hands can make many things, but we should not infringe upon the perfection already set before us by the One Creator. Dear Lord, Your majesty transcends the universe. It goes beyond anything I can see, smell, taste, hear or feel. It reaches from other universes that we aren't even aware...
This week is Holy Week- the week leading up to Resurrection Sunday (commonly marked on the calendar as "Easter.") It's a special time in the life of churches and Christians, and though we may recognize it in different ways, we come together in unity on Resurrection Sunday with praise on our lips that, "He is risen!" (The common response when you hear that is to say, "He is risen, indeed!") We begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday. On Palm Sunday we remember Jesus' triumphant entry at Jerusalem: "The...
"Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. But keep away from the devoted things so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred...
"I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip –he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber not sleep. The Lord watches over you- the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and g...
"Your word is a lam to my feet and a light for my path." ~Genesis 33:4 (NIV) Once upon a time, when we were first married, the house we rented needed a new antenna. Let me pause here and explain what that was: an antenna was a metal concoction people used to put on the roof back in the old days so we could watch TV. Cable (which was another way to watch TV back then, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) was not available on the road we lived on, so my husband went to a hardware store to buy a new...
When I was a little girl, my dad taught me how to hit properly. He taught me how to make a fist (thumb OUTSIDE, not inside for anyone who has no idea). He taught me how to throw a punch. He told me “Give them two warnings first. If they don’t back off, go ahead and hit them. But give them the warnings first.” This was an important lesson. 1. It taught me not to hit someone for no reason. 2. It taught me to give people opportunities to change their course of action. 3. It gave me the authority to watch over my own body and protect it. He was t...
It had snowed during the day. When I arrived home, the sidewalk to the house was snow-covered and needed shoveled, but first I had to traverse the snowy path to get to the house, where the shovel sat waiting for me on the front porch. It was a light fluffy snow, the kind you don’t mind shoveling (if there is such a thing.) Upon reaching the porch I grabbed the shovel, turned and began to clear the path back to the driveway. Looking ahead, my footprints made a visible trail in the snow. When I reached the end of the sidewalk I turned to walk bac...
It was a classic murder-mystery of Agatha Christie proportions. When we left the room she was alive and vibrant. When we walked back in a moment later, there she was, face down on the floor. The question is: Who killed Joy? The usual suspects were rounded up for questioning. Anger vehemently insisted that if he had done it, it would have caused quite an obvious scene. There would have been screaming and fighting and a wide path of destruction. Anger also pointed out that he's usually too hot...
Oh the beautiful blank palette of a new year. The possibilities are endless. Will this be the year we get in tip-top shape? Will this be the year I become independently wealthy and finally employ the house staff of my dreams? Will this be the year we finally eradicate all the weeds from the garden and flower beds? Perhaps if independent wealth has been achieved, a gardener could be hired – even better! You just never know what a year will hold. Sometimes it brings good changes and sometimes i...
On the third Sunday of Advent, we light the rose colored (pink) candle on the Advent wreath. This is the Joy Candle and rose is the liturgical color of joy. It reminds us that the time of preparation and waiting will soon be over and be replaced with a time of joy and celebration. In the Catholic Church, some priests will choose to wear rose colored robes on the third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And t...