Proverbs 18 - Give me your Eyes

18: 4 Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.

My goal in this 2 year journey is summed up in this verse. I want wisdom to flow through my life and over my lips like water over rocks. I know that 2 years cannot accomplish this. It takes a lifetime of study and mostly practice. Controlling the tongue, controlling the thoughts, controlling what comes into the windows of your soul through your eyes and ears, and in the end controlling your heart. I have many reasons for wanting this but most of all I want my kids to be much wiser than I have been in life. I realize without this influence they won't. My dad checked out early and basically left me to the wolves. I will not do that with my kids. It is really paying off. I find very teachable moments every day with my kids. Just this morning my son started to get mad at my daughter and caught himself. He then politely asked her to stop doing what she was doing. I praised him and let him know that he showed extreme constraint and wisdom but controlling his emotions and asking in a polite manner. My daughter's response was that she was still wiser than him. I was then able to explain to her that wisdom and knowledge are not the same. Knowledge provides you with the answers or the things to say. Wisdom is knowing when/when not to say them and how to say them

18:19 An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.

Several years ago a friend offended me at a time in my life when I did not need or deserve the treatment that person dished out. Not only were their accusations completely off base and ridiculous but this was a person that I had been there time and time again when they needed me. Well this was a time when I really needed him but instead I got kicked. That friend has since tried to repair the damage but it will be a long road and I am not sure that things will ever be the same. I hope and pray that I have never been that way with anyone. Much of the lessons in these Proverbs are about what we say and how we treat others. We need to always make sure we are careful with our words and our intentions. We may never know what that other person is going through. Be slow to speak, slow to correct, but quick to listen, and quick to love.

Brandon Heath "Give Me Your Eyes"