Mmmm....Honey!

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul
and health to the body."
Proverbs 16:24

Our family should have been beekeepers. We LIKE honey--orange blossom honey, tupelo honey, wildflower honey. It hardly matters what kind, although we are a little selective. Our youngest daughter we nicknamed "Charity the Pooh" because she likes honey so much. When she was a little girl she asked for the same thing every day--honey with peanut butter in a bowl. No bread. Just honey with some peanut butter. Now at 35 she forgoes the peanut butter and eats honey on whatever she can find.

We LIKE honey.

When we go to my sister's in Florida we buy
orange blossom by the 1/2 gallon.

Did I say we LIKE honey?

Honey not only tastes good, but it is healing. When one of us has a cough, we have found that the best remedy is a spoonful of honey. It works better than expensive cough syrup.

Really!

I have a precious friend named Jan that is a living example of
this verse. She is like honey when she speaks. Not like the
honey that drips onto the sides of the jar and the flies eat.

Sticky

gooey

uncomfortable when it gets on your hands.

She is like the honey that goes down into your mouth.

Smooth

sweet

healthy.

When you walk away after visiting with Jan your soul is sweetened and you just plain feel better. Her words are healing, never cutting or cruel. Everyone loves to be around her. "The teaching of kindness is on her lips" like the Proverbs 31 woman. (verse 26)

We spoke in another post of biting words and how they can destroy.
God gives us encouragement to speak words of grace, or kindness.
If He says to do it, then it can be done.

As we all strive to speak gracious words today,
(Mmmmm......., honey!)

Gloria

Another Day Older and Deeper in Debt

"In all toil there is profit, but mere talk
tends only to poverty."
Proverbs 14:23

Tennessee Ernie Ford once sang a song whose chorus went like this:

You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Saint Peter, don't you call me 'cause I can't go--
I owe my soul to the company store!

According to this song, no matter what he did, he still owed his soul to the company store. But as we look at the Proverbs, it appears that perhaps he was busier writing about himself than he was doing his work!

My mother spent many years working as a clerk at J.C. Penney.
She said when she was very young, one day when there
were no customers around, she asked her manager
if there was anything she could do.
He said to her,

"Look around.
Never just stand there.
Always find something that you can do."

She always remembered that, and obviously
reminded me to do the same!

There is much to be done in life. Hard work for our husbands,
who provide for their households. Much, much never-ending
labor for the homemaker and mom, ministry
to the needy and to those who have no hope spiritually.

"In all toil there is profit."

We may not see the fruit of some of our labors until eternity,
particularly in the labors to win souls, but God has promised profit.

"But mere talk tends only to poverty."

I've must quit talking and get busy!

Laboring together,
Gloria

Pigs and mud

"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm."
Proverbs 13:20

There always seem to be those youth who are inevitably positioning themselves with the wrong crowd. Just last night at a soccer game I was approached by a mom concerned for a young girl who seems to be running with those who will lead her astray. This young woman attends our church faithfully with her parent, and yet she is making
her bed with fools.

This little ditty came to my mind, so I wrote it down:

Mary washed her pig one day;
He was so clean and pink.
But when she came home from fun and play
She noticed he did stink!

She looked into the piggie's pen;
Her head was filled with ire.
He went right to his friends again
And wallowed in the mire!


It seems that no matter how hard we try to wash away our filth or our loved ones' filth, until we throw off foolishness and walk
with wisdom, all of our efforts are in vain.

It's all a matter of the heart.

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."
Ephesians 5:15-17

As we train our children and walk carefully ourselves,
Gloria

There are Two Ways to Say It

"There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

Proverbs 12:18

Have you ever experienced the "sword thrust" of a sharp tongue
that lashed out before thinking? I'm sure you have, and
you know how it pierces.

Even worse, have you ever spoken those rash words before
thinking what they might do to someone?
I'm sure that most of us have.

Over the past 43 years of marriage and 40 years of motherhood,
concerning this I have learned two things:

1. When the sword of rash words has been thrust into me, the worst time to retort is immediately afterward. It only provokes more anger or more harsh words.

The Psalmist said, "Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder on your own beds, and be silent."
Psalm 4:4

2. When I have become angry and thrust that sword into one that I love, I must not let the anger kindle like a smoldering fire. The result will be that I become bitter and my loved one will suffer the pain of the wounds without the salve of sought forgiveness.

The apostle Paul said:
"Be angry and do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and give no opportunity to the devil."
Ephesians 4:26

The swifter the reconciliation, the less the pain of the sword!

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we would all just heed
the words of encouragement from the apostle James:

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear,
slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not
produce the righteousness that God requires."
James 1:19-20

As we try to keep our "swords" in our mouths
and forgiveness on our tongues,
have a blessed day,
Gloria

A Gold Ring in a Pig's Snout

My mother in 1938

"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion."
Proverbs 11:22

Don't you love to be surrounded by beauty? I love to have pretty things in my home, to go outside and sit in my garden on a lovely sunny day, to wear pretty clothing, and yes--I also like to wear makeup! I don't want to frighten someone when I walk out of the house! One of my mother's favorite sayings when I was young was, "If you want to be beautiful, you have to suffer a little." She was the ultimate lady in poise, grace and beauty. My retort when I was growing up was, "If I have to suffer, then I don't want to be beautiful." I like comfort, also! discretion [dɪˈskrɛʃən]: the quality of being wise or judicious in avoiding mistakes or faults; prudent; circumspect; cautious; not rash.” In other words, discretion is exercising judgment tempered with caution in order to arrive at a final decision or outcome.

I have 9 beautiful granddaughters. Physically beautiful girls.
Gorgeous. Head turners. I know, you say it's impossible for
all nine of them to be beautiful. But it's true. Just ask me! Now,
I don't want them to be like gold rings in a pig's snout.

Matthew Henry's comment on this verse is so apropos:

"1. It is taken for granted here that beauty or comeliness of body is as a jewel of gold, a thing very valuable, and, where there is wisdom and grace to guard against the temptations of it, it is a great ornament.
Virtue appears peculiarly graceful when associated with beauty);
but a foolish wanton woman, of a light carriage, is fitly compared
to a swine, though she be ever so handsome, wallowing in the
mire of filthy lusts, with which the mind and conscience are defiled,
and, though washed, returning to them.

2. It is lamented that beauty should be so abused as it is by those that have not modesty with it. It seems ill-bestowed upon them; it is quite misplaced, as a jewel in a swine's snout, with which he roots in the dunghill. If beauty be not guarded by virtue, the virtue is exposed by the beauty. It may be applied to all other bodily endowments and accomplishments; it is a pity that those should have them who have not discretion to use them well."
Matthew Henry's Commentary

Mothers and grandmothers, let's teach our girls discretion. Outward beauty is an easy thing to accomplish in this day of pretty clothing and makeup, howbeit entailing a little "suffering" to get that way. But discretion, bringing about an inner beauty of the heart, is a thing to be worked on and practiced.

I started to say, "Good luck!" But it takes much more than luck.

Suffering together,
Gloria

Foundation, Foundation, Foundation

"Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars."
Proverbs 9:1

If we ever build a new home (which we probably won't),
our first focus on that building will be
foundation, foundation, foundation!
We will do all within our power to avoid cracks in the wall, doors that
don't want to open, and the other consequences of a poor foundation.

Wisdom hews her seven pillars. The number seven is the number for perfection. Wisdom does it right! She provides that the house she has built is on a solid foundation. I have a precious brood of grandchildren, and my thoughts are focused on them and their futures much of my waking hours. I still pray with much prayer and supplication for my own children, especially now that they are adults and parents themselves. My heart's desire is that they built their spiritual houses alongside wisdom.

God has provided a simple explanation of how to build our spiritual house. My husband's philosophy about much in life is that it is

"harder than you think, costs more than you think, and takes longer than you think."

It may take a lifetime, but the formula for success is in God's Word:

Build a firm foundation!

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Matthew 7:24

The first stone to be put into place, according to the Scriptures is

"...Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord." Ephesians 2:20b-21
Have a blessed SONday as we seek to build on the Solid Rock! Gloria

Earnings

Two of the grands at recital

"The wage of the righteous leads to life, the gain of the wicked, to sin." Proverbs 10:16

Our small church of about 150 members has three wonderful pastors, all of whom are brothers. They are real. I started to add to that sentence, but those three words describe them beautifully:

They are real.

All Bible school or seminary grads, they do not accept salaries from the church, but instead choose to work secular jobs as professional painters. Fifty percent of the church's income goes to missions. We are building a new facility, which could take a very long time, because we are doing it ourselves. If there is a need and these men are capable of meeting that need, they are the first ones there. I know of many times when they have stepped in and sacrificed financially or physically. One of these men has 9 children, yet he is quick to open his pocketbook to a real need. One of them teaches music lessons free of charge to any child in the church who would like to learn an instrument. Most of the children at church take lessons! These men are so full of life! What a blessing to be a part of a church where giving is a priority. That life is contagious. It has spread to others, who now volunteer their services to teach music lessons, build the church building, give to missions, and help others free of charge.

Truly, the wages of our righteous pastors have led to life.

On the other hand, we all know of those who seem to gain wealth and either hoard it or spend it like water. I know one man who spent frivolously until he lost everything.

The gain of the wicked leads to sin.

Righteousness must surely lead to generosity, because our generous pastors are so full of life.

Aren't you thankful for those good examples of righteous wage earners?

I know I am; they keep me looking for ways that I may give to others.

Have a blessed weekend full of life!
Gloria