the practicals of proverbs

When I was younger my mother gave me some very practical advice.  (Well, she gave me lots of practical advice, but I'm going to specifically share this one with you.)  Read Proverbs.  As in, the book of Proverbs, in the Bible. 

The reason this advice is so practical, is because the book of Proverbs itself is just so full of practical wisdom.  The book itself is practical in it's layout, as there are 31 chapters...as in, one for every day of the month.  And believe me, I've read through Proverbs many times over, and it's always got something new and fresh, because life situations and circumstances are always changing.  There's always something different that jumps out at me.

The book starts out, from the beginning, telling of the value of it's contents...

"The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to the simple, and knowledge and discretion to the young - let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance..."  ~Proverbs 1:1-5

Just reading that makes me say, "Oh, yes please...I need some of that!!  I need wisdom, disclipline...and 'simple'...oh yeah, that definitely describes me!!"

I also read it now through eyes of a mom, searching for nuggets of truth to give my children to help them get through the ups and downs of every day life.  Especially as I hear the infamous lines like "Everyone else is allowed to...", or "Mom, it's no big deal..."  Because, even if everyone else IS doing it, some things still ARE a big deal.  And rather than convince them of such things with the only weight behind it being 'I'm the mom and I said so..."  (which, in case you aren't aware, the older they get, the less weight this carries...and 9 times out of 10, it's just bad reasoning anyway), it's a whole lot more effective to answer those types of questions (as well as all the relational issues that kids deal with) by taking them directly to scriptures like...

"My son, if sinners entice you, do not give to to them...."  ~Prov. 1:9

"Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you."  ~Prov. 2:11

"For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."  ~Prov. 1:32-33

"Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man."  ~Prov. 3:3-4

I can't stress how chock-full of wisdom this book is!!  And what a wonderful treasure of some sort that I seem to find each day, in each chapter.  I don't read through it every month, but it's certainly worth taking it in at least a couple months out of every year.  So go ahead...read it...and then in a month or two...read it again!  I'm pretty sure there's no danger of overdosing on wise words!!