ContemplativeJourney

Proverbs 31 is the last chapter of the book...so, I find myself dangling on the precipice of November 1, and think perhaps I've finally decided what material I'll use for November devotionals! This is a happy discovery, and I'm very grateful that the 31st of the month fell on a Sunday, since it gives me more time to prepare my thoughts for the first of November! This final chapter in Proverbs is attributed to King Lemuel, and is referred to as "an oracle his mother taught him..." So, we give proper acknowledgement to King Lemuel's Mom, whoever she was...and take note of the fact that these instructions on the character of a noble wife and mother came directly from a Mom. You may or may not be familiar with Proverbs 31, but the passage at the end of the chapter is quoted often as a "blueprint" for godly womanhood. In the text, the section of the chapter is subtitled: "The Wife of Noble Character." Because this section is 21 verses in length,

Today we go to the World Series! What an incredibly exciting day - I am so grateful for the opportunity to share this once in a lifetime experience with 2 friends who share my lifelong love for baseball! Proverbs 30 is attributed to Agur, son of Jakeh...not a name that I'm familiar with at all, so you probably won't know him either...it's interesting to me only because we most often attribute the Proverbs to Solomon, and it appears that he wrote only a portion of the Proverbs, and not all of them. The theme of the verses I've chosen for today's reflection is the greatness of God -- " Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name and the name of his son? Tell me if you know! Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him." A few things come to mind as I read this -- the

We are rapidly coming to the end of the Proverbs, and I confess that at least half of my brain cells are busy wondering what I will write about during the month of November...what will I write about in November? I have no plan...many ideas...but no plan. I'm a little edgy about the subject, because in 2 days, it will be November... For today though, living in the here and now, we're reading Proverbs 29. The verse that I've chosen to write about has been used in some interesting ways within the different church communities where I'be been a member over the years, so this morning I'm trying to see the verse through a wide-angle lens...just to be sure I haven't missed something obvious! " Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law." Written out fully in this translation, you might not recognize the verse at all. The more popular reading of the verse is taken from a different translation (King James Ve

When I was starting out in my career, I remember having a very hard time admitting to making any mistakes at work...thinking back on it, I suppose I had a hard time making mistakes anywhere in my life, but the work situation happens to be the area that came to mind as I read Proverbs 28 this evening. Depending on how you might look at a situation, I probably would have come across to you as an angry and arrogant know-it-all. Without making any attempt to whitewash the reality of my issues with anger and arrogance, I would tell you that appearances can be very deceiving....and though arrogance appeared to be the root of my obstinance and unteachability in my late 20's, the true root of my bad behavior was fear. I carried with me a deep and abiding fear that mistakes of any kind, if found out, would mean rejection, and most likely, the loss of my job. As a result of my insecurity and immaturity, I invested huge sums of energy to hide any and all mistakes...and really, to put on a &

The process of writing these devotionals, reflections...commentaries...however you might like to describe them, has been interesting. As I try to weave together stories, illustrations...personal frailities and vulnerability...biblical and theological perspective and context...it sometimes feels like it works, and other times seems like the end product would be best used to line the bottom of a birdcage... Today is one of those days where I'm not sure whether we've got brilliance or birdcage liner, but I submit it to you in the hopes that something will resonate, challenge, or encourage you... We are on Proverbs 27, the 27th day of the month...13 more days until my 50th birthday...and my AARP card arrived in the mail yesterday...have mercy Lord, and teach us to number our days with a heart of full of wisdom.... "As water reflects a face, so a man's heart reflects the man." I found the picture that is conjured up by this verse slightly puzzling...I can see your fac

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea what day it was...has that ever happened to you? My foggy mind first thought "Sunday..." then, "No, it's not Sunday...if it's not Sunday, what day is it?" To my waking disappointment, I realized that indeed, it was a workday, and not the weekend...I got off to a bit of a rough start, and have felt slightly off... all day today... Proverbs 26 begins with a rather long section devoted to various descriptions of what a 'fool' is like...then, after I have once again been sucked into thinking to myself, "Yep, that's what a fool is like!", the author flips the table, and says this: " Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There's more hope for a fool than him." It's a clever tactic, don't you think? We all seem to be susceptible to the perils of comparison...we hear the Sunday morning sermon, and think to ourselves, "I wish Aunt Beatrice was hearing this... she really nee

Yesterday I wrote about a passage in Proverbs 24 that describes a vineyard overgrown with weeds, where the security wall has crumbled and fallen to the ground...this morning, I noticed this verse in Proverbs 25: " Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." Seems to me that the subject of self-control is something that most of us joke about more than really focus on trying to master...which leads me to the question, How do we maintain self-control on an ongoing basis? If your experience is anything like mine, self-control is a fleeting thing...you might have a day, or even a few days where you feel you've got things under control...and then... wham! It feels like all the progress you've made has been lost, and then some... So, what is the secret? I have this idea in my head about what the secret might be...I can't say for sure, but I think it's worth an ongoing experiment...or as the scientists would say, "a longitudinal st

Today's lesson is from Proverbs 24...the passage is full of applications, different for each one of us, I'm sure...but nevertheless, full of wisdom, and the kind of tools that can truly help you grow...if you want to! " I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered by weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins." Let's stop here...this is the first half of the passage, and it desribes the physical condition of the vineyard he observes, as he's walking by...I invite you on this Sunday, to take a virtual stroll past the vineyard of your life...and make some open-eyed observations about what you see... With respect to your work, your physical health, your financial health, your significant relationships and spiritual health...what do you see? Is your garden in good repair, or is the ground covered in weeds? How is the stone wall that represents protection of that which is m

I'm reading a wonderful book by James Bryan Smith... The Good and Beautiful God. I recommend it highly. Today, something I read in Proverbs 23 intersected for me with what James has been saying in the opening chapters of his book. I debated whether to blog on this verse today, because in part, it has to do with food...and I've already written about that topic...but as is often the case, I usually feel compelled to write on certain verses, even when I might not want to discuss that subject.... This is the first verse in Proverbs 23: "When you sit to dine with ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony." As I've shared previously, I began reading the Proverbs when I was a young teen...and for many, many years...read them through, month after month...the chapter coinciding with the day of the month. This historical tidbit is important because you need to understand how many hundreds of times I've read this ve

When I was in my early 30's, I was in a terrific Sunday School class at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. Our teacher was a young physician named Ray Bandy, and some of the folks I met in that class almost 20 years ago are still some of my closest friends...it was really a wonderful group of people, and Ray was an exceptional teacher. Ray took alot of teasing from the other teachers in the Singles Group, because he loved to teach through books verse by verse...and I do mean...verse...by...verse. It took us months and months to get through the book of 2 Corinthians, but to this day, I still remember quite a bit of what he talked about. Let's just say that Ray was thorough! One year Ray decided to teach Proverbs, and I will never forget the day he read this verse from Proverbs 22: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." All my life, up until that time, I had been taught that this verse is a promise about child-reari

Have I mentioned that I purchased/ordered a hot tub and cabana house when I went to the State Fair last week? Probably not... My tendency to make impulse purchases is alive and well, but I think Proverbs 21 may put an end to my unwise behavior. We'll start today with a verse that is sufficiently general to sweep up all of us in the dragnet of it's message: " All a man's ways seem right to him, but the Lord weighs the heart." Do we look at ourselves and our behavior through a hazy film of rationalization and self-justification? Of course we do! If you've ever struggled with an addiction, a broken relationship, or even an extravagant and self-indulgent purchase, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The beginning of the journey to wisdom and spiritual transparency is the willingness to absorb the truth of a verse like this one, and say, "Yep...that's me alright!" There were a couple more verses in this chapter of Proverbs that acted like a

Today's verse is an especially beautiful one to me, and speaks to a subject that is near and dear to my heart...how to make someone that you love feel safe...and how to create a safe place for someone to reveal their soul... "The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out." -Proverbs 20:5 This verse makes me think of someone who is patient, calm, attentive as a listener, and as a responder...someone who chooses their words with great care and sensitivity, and who knows that sometimes fewer words are better than more. Parker Palmer talks about our souls being like a wild animal in the forest...hidden in the bush...they are shy, and slow to reveal themselves to anything or anyone that might be a threat to their safety. If you move suddenly, aggressively, loudly...the animal will flee in fear...but if you wait patiently, quietly...the animal might reveal herself...if only for a moment. The heart and soul of a person are similarly

Hello everyone!! I'm posting this message to let you know that I'm running the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on November 7th. If you can help by making a donation, I would be very grateful for your support. My goal for this Race is $250, and so far, I've raised approximately 40% of the total amount. You can easily donate online by going to the link below: http://austin.info-komen.org/site/TR?px=8580311&pg=personal&fr_id=1985&et=U1UQlQoPks1h82CmuOG7mA..&s_tafId=58535 If the link isn't active, please copy and paste to your Web Browser. I am honoring 4 women in my life that have fought the fight against breast cancer: Suzanne Adams Rae Cole Kendra Cole Freeman Ellen Wilson Here is a quote that has really impacted my outlook on life since my Mom's death on August 19th: " It's never too late to make a difference in other people's lives." Let's all do our part to make a difference!

Good Tuesday to you! I would be less than honest if I didn't admit my happiness about the Texas Rangers' triumph over the New York Yankees last night...because in the world of baseball,there is nothing better than beating the Yankees! On the other hand, baseball fans like myself tend to be a superstitious lot, so I will say nothing more about the subject, and will certainly not make any predictions about the outcome of the Series...might jinx the team!! When I read Proverbs 19 last evening, I found 5 verses that I particularly liked for one reason or another, but I'm not sure time or space permits me to discuss all 5 of them...I'd like to share them with you, even though I may only comment on one or two of them, because I think all of them are worthy of sharing! First is verse 2: "It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way." I saw a visual image last Friday, I think, of what this verse is trying to depict for us. A good fr

We have blown right through the half-way point in the month, and today we're in Proverbs 18. This chapter is one of my favorites, and is a great place to begin reading through the book, if you've never read through Proverbs before. I highly recommend it! The verse I've chosen this morning is Proverbs 18, verse 10: " The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe." Besides the fact that I like the imagery of God being strong, I really love the 'tower' image. By definition, towers are tall, and it seems to me that the visual depiction of God's name being like a tower speaks to his omniscience. This reminds me of the difference between driving a sedan and a large SUV -- if you're in a truck or an SUV, you can see everything that's going on around you on the roads, and for most people I've spoken with about it, the ability to be "above" the traffic gives the driver a sense of control, and increased person

Oh wait, I thought "love your enemies" was something that Jesus said...how did this get into Proverbs?? Well yes, "love your enemies" was something that he had said... ( if this doesn't ring a bell, please go to YouTube and watch BonQuiQui at King Burger)... However, tucked into Proverbs 17 is a verse that gives us another look at this same principle, but I believe, helps us to understand why the advice is truly for our own good , and isn't simply about being a nice person, or even about being a "spiritual" person... " If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house." Even though the writer of the Proverb is talking about paying back evil for good, I think there's a larger point here...if you pay back evil for evil, how is that any better? In Luke 6, Jesus says to love your enemies, and pray for those who hate you . Why?? In the big, big picture, some of what Jesus taught was designed to help folks see that they coul

Today's reading in Proverbs 16 has alot to say about how we talk and what we say, which is a recurring theme in all of the Proverbs. I was commenting to a friend earlier tonight about the fact that when I'm reading through the day's chapter, I often come across a verse that 'jumps up'...which is to say, I feel like it's the object lesson I need to ponder and write about for that particular day. More often than not, I don't want to write about the topic that seems to jump out at me, and I say to myself, "I don't want to write about that...let's see what else is here that I can write about..." Invariably, the same theme or lesson will appear in another verse somewhere later in the chapter, and the original impression will be reinforced! Tonight, I was impressed by this verse, but didn't want to write about it: " Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." Here's why I found

A few scattered thoughts before I dig into our verses from Proverbs 15...first thing... "You know it is fall in Texas when...for the first time in 7 months, having the air conditioner on makes you cold, and you have to get a blanket to put around your shoulders." This little truism has nothing to do with tonight's blog, except that I just had to turn off the air conditioner and put a blanket around my shoulders! I went to the Texas State Fair today, and had a wonderfully spectacular time! I have many "favorite things" about the State Fair, but in recent years, the absolute highlight for me has become the "Wild Birds of the World" show...I could never do it justice here, so I'll just say that watching the trainers with those hawks and condors and eagles is a magical wonder to me, and it reminds me again of truly incredible God's creation really is! Depending on what time zone you're in, my submission of the blog for Proverbs 15 might be cons

Ah....Proverbs 14! We are almost 1/2-way through the month! Today's featured verse contains the kind of "earthy wisdom" that I always find enjoyable... "Where there are no oxen, the stable is clean, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest." I love the visual image...picture a stable with no cows, no oxen...no horses or chickens or pigs...it is, most likely, clean . This seems terrific, right? Maybe...but the problem is, where there are no work animals, there's no work going on...and where there's no work going on, nothing's happening...and there is no harvest. The lesson, it seems to me, is that progress can be messy, and the price of a successful harvest is that you have to get in there, get to work, and get dirty. If you're frustrated by a dirty stable, and by the presence of cow poop in your work world...just remember that it's all part of the larger process of success. You can't have one without the other, so don'

Today we're in Proverbs 13...favorite verses for today are: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." And then this one: "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul..." As I write this, I am once again sitting outside, on the deck in my backyard...it is early evening...the sun is still up, but it is setting and the glare of midday is gone...only a warm glow is left...evening is coming, and fall is coming soon. This is one of the few remaining days I'll have this fall when the sun is still up when I arrive home from work. And so...I am basking in the fall breeze that stirs my windchimes...I don't think there is a sound I love more than the sound of wind blowing through the leaves and the windchimes...what a beautiful picture it is to connect a tree of life with the feeling of a longing fulfilled... Some longings we share easily with others...and some we keep treasured in our hearts...church bells just began to peel

The opening verse of Proverbs 12 packs quite a punch.... "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, and he who hates correction is stupid." Whoa! Step back from that for a minute, and ask yourself if you love correction, or hate correction...these are strong words. There is good news however, because even though we might think of the word "discipline" as being only punitive, the truth is, the root of the word discipline is disciple, and the word disciple means student . When we read the verse with this understanding in mind, it sounds more like this: "Whoever loves to learn loves knowledge, and whoever hates to learn is stupid." It becomes somewhat self-evident, doesn't it? But the question is, do you love to learn? Are you really a student of what life has to teach you? I wrote several weeks ago about Jim Rohn, and his teachings on the development of a life philosophy. The very first component of a life philosophy is what you know . The person who doe

24 little hours in a day. There have been times when I struggled with what to say in a daily blog, and there have been days when I had nothing to say...or nothing to say that was suitable for public viewing...but I can honestly say that I've never dreaded writing a blog like I have this evening... The day started out well enough, and I enjoyed a nice lunch with a friend I haven't seen in several months...it was all good. And I had journaled this morning on Proverbs 11, and a few items that I thought worth sharing here. And then I ran an errand for my Dad. I had to go to the nursing home where my Mom spent the better part of 3 months this past spring and summer, and it was awful. The errand was simple enough...get a one-page summary of my Mom's stay there...admission date and discharge date, on a piece of their letterhead. For reasons that elude me, I waited 1 hour and 10 minutes for the woman to figure out how to get this information together and print it on a sheet of lett

I read Proverbs 10, and it has many good things to say about the contrast between good and bad, but the most notable to me this morning was this observation: The memory of the righteous will be a blessing... This, of course, makes me think of my Mom, whose memory will always be a blessing to me...and to so many others! There is another verse that makes me think of her, and the contrast between the two of us...paraphrased, it goes something like this: Where there are many words, sin is not far behind; but the man of few words is wise. I admit to self-deprecating humor here, but it is accurate to say that the person of many words has almost always been me, and the person of few words was most often my Mom. This was one of the many wise lessons that my Mom endeavored to teach me during her lifetime...fewer words is often best, particularly when you're unhappy about something...and to her credit, I am still working to to apply those lessons! On this beautiful Sunday morning, the topic

I ran a 5K this morning...okay...I jogged...slowly...I think within the world of runners, my jogging is slow enough to barely qualify to use the term, but never mind all that! The process all points to a very large sign with the word FINISH emblazened across it, and in this case, with pictures of Red Balloons all over it...The Red Balloon 5K for Children's Medical Center in Dallas. Allow me to be transparent about one of my besetting character flaws...impatience...I arrived at the race site in plenty of time this morning...I thought...but I readily admit that I made a crucial mistake upon arrival...I turned 1 street too soon to enter the area for parking (even though I had a map), and the result of my mistake was being caught in an area where I could neither park, nor easily get back to the correct parking lot. The streets were blocked off, and there was not, in my impatient opinion, good signage. So...I got irritated....very irritated...I turned down at least 3 streets that had a

It's Friday! The weather is beautiful, and the hometown Texas Rangers are up 2-0 in the American League Divisional Series. In honor of such of such happy news, and because our chapter in Proverbs today deals with the subject of "wisdom", today's blog will cover the subject of baseball wisdom... I love baseball...always have...always will. I realize that it's not the most "exciting" sport in the world, and I've heard it described as being akin to watching paint dry.... but if you can appreciate the beauty of the field, the art of the perfect pitch, and the intricacies that comprise great base running strategy, perhaps you can enjoy this year's Fall Classic just a little bit more than you have in the past. Pitching is about anticipation...the hitter trying to anticipate the pitcher's next move...the pitcher trying to anticipate what the hitter might anticipate, so he can do something unexpected and surprise him. It's about speed...fast or s

I had to share this fellow blogger's letter -- extraordinary grace and wisdom in her words. NOTHING ruins our life forever, NOTHING. I hope her words are an encouragement to whoever reads this today...or any day...take the message to heart...I am. my blog: Letter to my daughter ( in the wake of senseless t... : "Hello my girl, I wanted to say hi and tell you how much I miss you and that I hope your classes are going well and that you are having fun ..."