Proverbs 16:
We humans have plans in our hearts
but the voice that articulates
the hand that accomplishes, is not our own.
We don’t easily see the true nature of our plans
they generally seem innocent to us, and we say we have “good intentions,” but our deepest motivations are always seen by God.
Commit everything you do to the one who sees everything
and your plans will work out.
The purpose and justice of creation work in and through everything, including bad people on bad days, until the end of time.
We that feel proud of being “heart centered” should remember that God detests arrogance of any kind. Pride of any kind eventually suffers itself.
Love and faithfulness is the only way to clear the path from the obstructions we constantly place before ourselves. It takes hard work to clear an overgrown path filled with obstructions.
One of the simplest ways to avoid going astray or compromising your integrity is to stay connected to the sacred fear of your maker.
When we regularly commune with the sacred, in sacred affection, and our life glows with the love of the divine, people that don’t like us or wish to harm us will find it more difficult to do so.
It’s much better to have less but have it in a clean way than to have more because of compromised integrity.
In our hearts we have plans, but God determines how those plans will go.
The lips of a political ruler speak like an oracle. His words should always reflect his loyalty to justice.
The honest weighing of so many different complicated factors in life comes from the divine mind. Any tool we have to get us to truth in a complicated situation is God’s handiwork.
Political rulers should detest immorality, for any healthy rulership is rooted in good character.
Political rulers should take pleasure in honest speech, they should also value most those who would speak truthfully around them.
A political ruler’s anger and bitterness or corruption is a bad omen. A wise man will appease this bad spirit with gentleness and wisdom.
When a political ruler’s face brightens with good spirit, it means life for more than just himself. It is a good omen, like a spring rain!
How much better is it to be wealthy in understanding than in money? This requires a different kind of counting.
Establishing a good road in life keeps you from falling into darkness. If you guard the good road you create, you guard your life.
A lot of confidence comes before tripping, a loud spirit set on itself sounds off right before falling into a deep hole.
Better to be modest and to be friends with those who are modest than to look for your self esteem among people who are too loud and too confident.
Whoever listens to instructions outside of his or her own will grows good things in the gardens of life. We are blessed when we recognize that we frequently don’t know what is best…when we ask for guidance we are guided.
People who are wise we call discerning, and generally wise people teach and instruct us about difficult things in words that are pleasant to both the ears and the heart at once.
Understanding is like a well. It never increases and never decreases but always sustains. People who do not seek understanding suffer a special kind of suffering, called folly.
A wise woman’s heart guides her words, and the way she answers even the simplest question tends to instruct others.
Pleasant thoughts and pleasant words are both strong and sweet, like the honeycomb of a bee is both strongly built and sweet to the senses.
There is a kind of “common sense” that seems right to us, but in the end we can’t figure out why it leads to an unfortunate outcome. We should think about this a little more.
What we work for when we say we’re doing spiritual work is the same thing someone labors for when they’re making a healthy meal for their family and friends. The goal is informed by the work and the work by the goal.
You can tell when someone is up to no good because their words are too fiery and harmful.
People bent out of alignment with God stir up rivalries and gossip in order to gain something for themselves.
A nasty person entices other people to respond with nastiness. Meanness is subtly contagious and we have to be very careful with how we let other people’s negativity impact our state of mind.
Those who wink out of one eye, saying one thing and doing another, or sending secret messages or subtle innuendos, are not speaking clearly or honestly and good things do not generally come from this way of communicating.
A full head of gray hair is the crowning achievement of a life lived in respect for powers higher than ourselves.
Better to be patient than to be a warrior…better to control our moods and temper than to storm a city and take something by force or will.
The lot of our life is cast and appears random, but all decisions, all readings, and all outcomes are from God.
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