SUCCESSFUL LIVING

He stores up success for honest people. (Prov 2:7 NIrV)

We were having devotions with our children the other evening and my wife was reading Proverbs 2 aloud from my daughter’s Bible. I was taken by the first part of verse 7 and what it stirred in me.

Now, we know that Proverbs is about wisdom, and not just wisdom, but godly wisdom. What stirred in me was that it is wise to be honest, to be a person of integrity. The fruit of that honesty will be success which God has a whole supply of stored up and ready to be released by the drawing of that honesty.

We must be honest with ourselves, honest with God, and honest with others. The degree of our honesty will determine the richness of our success. But let’s not deceive ourselves into thinking that honesty here is just admitting what is true. The honesty we are talking about here is the living out of the Truth, the integrity of righteous living, the lived out passion for justice blended with the compassion of mercy - and all of these defined by God.

Yes, this will bring success in life. It is the secret to successful living, the wisdom whose fruit is success.

The Real Questions

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. 1 Pe 1:18 NLT

Do not ask whether something is enjoyable. Ask if it is worthy of love. Ask is you should depend upon it.

How will you find an answer? Is there an infallible argument or a verse of scripture that will enlighten you? Can you think of any example or axiom or sacrament that will prepare you to discover these things?

You can tell if something is made of gold. But how can you know if it is worth your love, or if you can depend upon it? Being gold is one thing, but being worthy of love is something else.

Desiring exquisite food and clothing is like painting firewood. These things are consumables. Clothes keep you warm regardless of the color. Common foods will satisfy your hunger. Desire what is right for you. -Guigo 1: Meditations

The Gift

I heard today
Of a decrepit native woman
Who walked mile after mile
Under the blistering sun
To bring a small gift of embroidery
To the missionary she deeply loved.
Hour after hour she trudged
Over rough, rugged roads
Clutching tightly her small gift.
Her weary body sagged
Her vision blurred
Her bare feet bled from the jagged rocks

Grateful but overwhelmed,
The missionary wept.
The trembling old woman spoke softly:
"Please understand.
The walk is part of the gift."

My Lord
My commitment to You is for life.
I give myself to You unreservedly
To do with me as You please.
But may I not forget
That the tears, the fears
The strain and the painThe sunless days
The starless nights
Are all part of the whole.
In my total commitment
I give full consent:
The walk is part of the gift.
~Ruth Harms Calkin

HT: http://www.windscraps.blogspot.com/

A Heart Full of Fear

Do not fear, for I am with you;Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' (Is 41:10 NASB)

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
(Ez 36:26 NASB)

I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we've been shown the mystery! I'm telling you this because I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after other so-called mysteries, or "the Secret." (Col 2:2-4 MSG)

"You can't think straight with a heart full of fear, for fear seeks safety, not truth. If your heart's a stone, you can't have decent thoughts—either about personal relations or about international ones. A heart full of love, on the other hand, has a limbering effect on the mind." —William Sloane Coffin

Burning Bushes

The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." (Ex 3:1-3)

"Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes - The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries."
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Set A Straight Course

My son, if you aspire to be a servant of the Lord, prepare yourself for testing. Set a straight course, keep to it, and do not be dismayed in the face of adversity. (Ecclesiasticus 2:1-2)

Home Alone … Well, Not Really

My wife and daughter are in New York City with friends and family and Zach and I are bacheloring it. For supper tonight he has already had pizza, spaghetti, 4 small powdered donuts, and 2 strawberry pop tarts. I have some oven baked barbeque wings cooking.

Tomorrow my daughter Rebekah is singing at St Patrick’s Cathedral with the chorus from her last year’s school in Cape Coral, Florida. She was invited to sing with them again this year. Today her and her friends Sarah and Rachel had a birthday party at the American Doll Store and left with more than they went in with. I hear I bought my daughter a small doll for her American Girl Doll. They are doing the open top bus tour tonight.

Zachariah and I are doing well so far. I have stopped up one toilet but should be able to unplug it. He has hid the TV remote for the living room and, so far, has not revealed its hiding place. Hopefully it is not in the garbage. Yes I did look, but did not see it. I also looked under the couches, the tables, in the cabinets, bedrooms, closets, toy bucket, kitchen, drawers, bathrooms, the fridge and even the cat’s litter box.