Tag Archives: blessing

Reading:
Proverbs 17:11-19

“A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (17).

Let that be I!

Sure, I want a friend who loves me at all times.

Sure, I want a brother who stands by me in adversity.

But I also want to be that friend and brother to another.

Even when my friend fails (or merely grates on me), I want to love him.

Even when my friend is terribly down and unpleasant to be around, I want to be faithfully at his side.

[Leave off contention (Proverbs 17:14)]
from Proverbs 17:14

A little bit more from Proverbs 17: Heart Room

Reading:
Proverbs 15:12-22

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken” (13).

So the route to a genuinely cheerful face is through a “merry” heart.

Hmmm. I don’t have a cheerful countenance.

“All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a countinual feast” (15).

And the route to a positive perspective on life is also by way of a “merry” heart. (For a life perspective, I’ll take a sense of feasting over one of evil any day!)

Hmmm. I don’t have a continual feast.

I seem to be striking out in the Merry Heart Department.

But what’s with this “merry” business?!

Lemme look in my Spanish Bible…. Well, how about that!

Verse 13 begins, “The happy heart beautifies the countenance.”

And verse 15 talks about the contented heart.

Whatever a “merry” heart is, I need one.

I want one!

Tell me how to get one.

[A man of understanding walketh uprightly (Proverbs 15:21)]
from Proverbs 15:21

A little bit more from Proverbs 15: Established Purposes