Congratulations! As of today — unless you are trailing behind, which is ok — you have completed 25 chapters of the Book of Proverbs. It is likely that some of you have now read more consecutive days in Proverbs than ever before. That is terrific!
My primary goal for the Proverbs Challenge was to encourage folks to read their Bible each day in a systematic fashion. When you complete the challenge one week from today you can spike the ball in the end zone of Proverbs and do a funky dance. You can give “dabbing” or “flossing” a try. If you attempt to “dab” or “floss” (those are short dance moves performed by young ‘uns nowadays) rest assured that your children, or grandchildren, will video you, show it to their friends at school, and they will all laugh at you to the point of wetting their pants, or ripped jeans, or jeggings, or whatever they wear.
Today we will bite off this chapter in two big chunks: dealing with fools and minding your own business.
Dealing with Fools:
Verse 4: Arguing with a fool reduces you to his level, and he will beat you with his vast experience in idiocy. Although it is tempting to correct a fool, it won’t work. Proverbs has shown us that fools hate wisdom and correction. You cannot cure them because they love their ailment. So, don’t try. That is hard to accept, but it will save you frustration and trouble.
Verse 10: A hot tip for hiring employees: If you hire a fool you will harm your co-workers and yourself. And, your co-workers will eye-roll and sigh when you turn your back. They will do this for weeks, and it’s probably justified.
Verse 11: Fools, out of ignorance and on instinct, repeat their mistakes over and over. This verse uses a gross image to sear this truth into our minds. It works. For you feline-inclined folks, it’s too bad there are no images of cats in Proverbs. But, let’s try to remedy that with a few home spun cat-based comparions of our own:
- A fool among the wise is like a hair ball on your hardwood floor.
- A fool’s words sound like paws raking in a litter box.
- A fool’s ramblings resemble Mr. Whiskers hacking up a hair ball.
- A fool repeats his folly just as a cat continually licks his ….
- Seriously, from this verse I often tell our daughters that wise people make mistakes, but, only fools repeat them!
Verse 12: Fools have more hope than the arrogant. Yikes! Why is that? A fool can recognize his/her limits, while an arrogant person believes he/she has none. A fool is often lazy, thus will affect a limited few; an arrogant person often wreaks havoc on many. From your experience you can likely come up with other reasons for this as well.
Minding your own Business:
Verse 17: When you meddle in the affairs of others, you often walk away with bite marks. To get involved in the goings-on of others is enticing, but it will not end well. There are many applications for this verse regarding social media usage. I encourage you to take a moment and come up with some for yourself.
Verse 20: In the absence of gossip there is an abundance of peace.
Verse 21: Strife is sparked, and continually fueled, by the contentious.
There you have it: two important topics for life and work, and some proverbs about cats. Truth flavored with wry wit … Bearded Acorn style!
Now, go “dab” or “floss,” you have earned it. I can’t wait to see the videos of it online.
josephsmotherman.com 