Folly vs. Wisdom Part 1

So I promised some practical applications for the journey so far into Proverbs.

AND…a correction caught by one observant reader yesterday…on the list of 5 ways to memorize and apply Proverbs, Item #3 should have read attach “some kind” of story…not “SOMETIME story”…thank you Marjorie <3

First I would like to do a running review/summary of my daily choices for verses as of Thursday this week.

I will wake you up when I am done so don’t set an alarm or anything.

Here we go….straight out of the journal, people…

Proverbs 1:23 When God corrects me, I want to be immediate in my repentance, because the sooner I turn around from my own ways, He will give me instruction and teaching

What does that look like for me?

When I am going along in my day and I feel a check in my spirit because of a line of negative thinking I am following or an un-Christlike attitude I am taking up ; I want to quickly acknowledge that as FOLLY and repent and choose wisdom.

How do I recognize the “folly” of it?

By it’s FRUIT.

Bitterness, envy, vain imaginings, competition, frustration, desire to be right and to win, guilt, confused thinking, turmoil, strife and striving.

Therefore, I need to want to find wisdom as if I have lost something that is precious and priceless to me. (Proverbs 2: 4&5), not worrying and fearing that I will make some kind of dreadful error in my next steps (Proverbs 3:15-26). But instead, using my energy and heart …the essence of ‘me’… to pay attention to what God is teaching me so that I have life and health each day (Proverbs 4:20-22); not looking around at what everyone else has and is doing, but focusing on what God has for ME. (Proverbs 5:15)

Being careful (full of care) about my words; both the things I say to and the things I say about others, as well as what I say I will do and the commitments I agree to take on;(Proverbs 6:2) not just doing things that outwardly appear nice and kind, but allowing God to work obedience deep within my heart and soul. ( Proverbs 7:14), knowing that wisdom IS from God because God is wisdom.

Wisdom is from the beginning. It’s not a new revelation but rather always has been and I need my own eyes focused on God alone, who IS WISE as He reveals wisdom to me for my choices and decisions to KNOW Him and thus, know wisdom. (Proverbs 8:30-31). This will make me fruitful in my days and years and keep me from wasting time. (Proverbs 9:11) as I begin to make the connection between how good choices give me life and bad choices bring a kind of death. (Proverbs 10: 29)

Ok.

You can wake up…here are the examples I have.

Thank you for kindly remembering that it is both humbling and humiliating to share my folly.

Glory be to God that He would extend grace to this blonde lady.

Be nice folks…this is kinda embarrassing…but we all, all of us, have our junk…yours may look different than mine or the same as mine…but

we

all

have

JUNK….

 

CATEGORY – How I spend my time and Social Media and the fact that it is the number one time eater and neurotic thinking enhancer for this girl, right here.

FOLLY – randomly scrolling through Facebook for extended periods of time, which provides me with copious amounts of useless information and quite often sets off a chain reaction of insecurities that are mind-numbing.

FOLLY – checking back to the post to see if people are reading it

WISDOM – post the blog. Share to Facebook so people will be able to find it and hopefully keep their compass pointed due-Jesus. Then, set a limit on scrolling so that I can maintain a healthy interaction with YOUR stories so we can build community BUT in a balanced way. As in, scroll through the first ten to twenty and then LOG OUT. There is no way I can, nor need to, know what is going on in every single life on Facebook. It’s OK if I miss clicking like or making a comment on one of my friend’s cute pictures….I can catch ‘em next time <3

Wisdom Fruit – pray and ask God to lead people HE wants to reach to the posts I write. Trust Him to use them to minister where He would like them and leave the results in His sweet hands – it’s His ideas and words anyway…He gets all the “likes” and all the Glory. Making good choices about what I look at and what I leave alone gives life; making bad choices keeps me in a negative spiral that goes further downward.

 

CATEGORY– Physical health and it’s effect on my energy and productivity

FOLLY – Eating something salty and then sweet and then salty to get rid of the sweet and then sweet and then salty and sweet together and….well…you know the vortex maybe?

FOLLY – And then feeling sluggish, so having a Diet Coke for energy….

WISDOM – eat regular meals from all food groups.

WISDOM – Drink water. Several glasses. Often.

Wisdom Fruit – When I eat well, I feel well. When I feel well, I do well. Making good choices about what I eat and drink pay off with feeling good and giving me energy to make more good choices. Making poor choices pay off with feeling crummy. Stop making poor choices because it never ends well. Ever.

CATEGORY: My infernal lack of being disciplined about time

FOLLY – Putting things off because I don’t know where to start

FOLLY – Putting things off because I think I will have more time to do them later (what???)

WISDOM – Making the choice to do the first thing on the list and the next and the next…

Wisdom Fruit – I know that if I make the choice to set the timer for twenty minutes per task, I will be more prone to finish some things on the list. But I have to choose to set that timer and start – the benefit is productivity in my day. Making that wise choice leads to other wise choices and a sense of accomplishment that is a true blessing to me and those I love.

This has been a long one…thanks for reading to end if you did….and I have a couple more thoughts.

Because wisdom is more than just coming up with set answers for each and every situation in advance…that’s legalism and ain’t nobody got time for that noise!

So we will look a tiny bit deeper at this wisdom on the journey in a practical way on MoNdAy!

Oh! I hope you decide to come back.

Until then have a great weekend as you seek God’s wisdom by making wise choices <3