May 24

Children:

These proverbs clearly say that children should respect their parents. I think they were written more for the good of the children than for the parents. As children we need to understand that God says that honoring our parents is the right thing to do and is good for us.

Women:

As women, I think we should use these proverbs as a mirror: if we see our reflection in the corrective proverbs, we need to step back and reconsider how we love God and others.

Leaders:

If we are ever put in a position of leadership and power, we need to be careful. These proverbs talk about that a leader should stive for love, justice and truth, and not to oprress or mislead others.

Friends:

These proverbs make us see that if we are someone's friend, it is a blessing and a privilege from God. A friend may be closer to someone than their own family is. Friends love at all times.

But this is the one proverb that got me today:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverb 13:12

It's so true! When we hope for something, again and again and again, and it doesn't happen, we are heart broken. When our dreams don't come true our hearts are sick. But if our hopes and dreams come true, we are in heaven! 'No one can touch us!' But the proverb is not saying that all hopes that didn't come true were bad hopes, or that we must have done something wrong if they didn't happen. It's not even saying that any type of longing is worth having. I think the proverb is rather raising the question: What do you hope in? What are your longings? Or as my friend Nicole wisely asked on this subject: Is what you hope in trustworthy?

If fulfilled hopes and desires are like a tree of life, than why not put our hopes in the actual source of life?!

Pop quiz then: Who is the source of life?