Tag: Proverbs and Sayings

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motivation

Trusting in a Fool

Cartoon of a boy with a halo. a girl says, "I'm your sister. You can't fool me!"

I felt anxious the other day only to find out I was on my fifth cup of coffee. I felt despondent and sluggish the other day only to find out it was past my bedtime. I felt angry the other day when a sem-trailer cut me off on the freeway. Later, I realized I may have been in his blind spot and he had no idea I was back there. It reminded me I have blind spots every day.

It’s a good thing I can remember my emotions and insights are fickle.

Those who trust their own insight are foolish, but anyone who walks in wisdom is safe.

Proverbs 28:26
Cartoon of a boy with a halo. a girl says, "I'm your sister. You can't fool me!"

Insights change along with emotions and our maturity.

  • I once thought I could grow up to be an astronaut, artist, and a paramedic all at once
  • I once thought my little sisters were annoying. Then we grew up and I discovered they were mature, young women with amazing talents and wisdom.
  • I used to think my parents could learn a thing or two from me until I got married and had kids of my own. It’s amazing how many people without kids are parenting experts until they have kids!

One of the most liberating conclusions I ever had was that I am a fool… and so are you! We all are if we are not careful.

  • We change
  • Our past experiences affect our future perceptions
  • Our emotions are fickle
    • Chronic negative emotions turn into bad attitudes that are unhelpful, even harmful.
  • We are affected by groupthink
  • We can be manipulated by the media, politicians, and anyone with charisma

So how do you get wisdom? Personally, I’ve found the book of Proverbs to be very helpful. If you are not a Bible reader, seek out books of wisdom or read biographies of people you admire and respect. See what has guided them. Seek out old adages, such as Ben Franklin’s adages.

Wisdom does not change with the times or our emotions. Certain bedrock truths like treating everyone the way you want to be treated and haste makes waste, will guide us when we feel like chucking it all in and acting like a selfish jerk.

Categories
motivation

The Weight of Worry

Two goldfish look worried as they see their bowl is cracked

I’m a professional worrier. I worry about my kids. I worry about the world my future grandkids may one day inherit. I worry too much about finances, climate, politics, and if we have enough of the vital things like popcorn in the cupboard and ice cream in the freezer. 

I come from a long line of worriers. I remember riding with my grandmother to pick up my grandfather from a trip. He was on a tour bus. The whole time, she was fretting that the bus could be in a fatal accident, that he possibly didn’t make the bus (it was long before cell phones), that she didn’t get the address to the pickup up site right. By the time she got all of her worries out, I was a nervous wreck and Grandpa was right there with group, waiting for us.

There have been times in my life when I’ve felt like the two goldfish in my illustration. I just know the bowl is going to burst any moment and I’ll be clinging for life. Can anybody relate?

Two goldfish look worried as they see their bowl is cracked

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

Proverbs 12:25 (NLT)

This proverb reminds me of what a comfort it is to give a word of encouragement. It can be easy to get discouraged by all the bad news and the prophets of doom. But an encouraging word lightens my load. It lets me see how silly my worries can be. An encouraging word gives me hope and reminds me that the vast majority of things I worry about never happen.

This is why I have decided to blog daily. Tomorrow, I will have blogged daily for three months. I hope if you have followed along, you have been encouraged along the way.

So be encouraged, my friend! Things aren’t as bad as they seem. At the very least, you don’t live in a cracked fish bowl!

Categories
motivation Proverbs

Broken Beyond Repair

Cartoon of one woman saying to another, "Sure we're all broken people, but Frank is just cracked!"
Cartoon of one woman saying to another, "Sure we're all broken people, but Frank is just cracked!"

Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.

Proverbs 29:1 NLT

Criticism can sometimes hurt. It’s especially painful when our pride gets in the way and we feel we don’t deserve the rebuke.

Criticism can also be wrong. The talent manager of the Grand Ole Opry fired Elvis Presley after he bombed on stage and said Elvis should go back to driving a truck!

Cartoon of one woman saying to another, "Sure we're all broken people, but Frank is just cracked!"

Yet, there is truth in today’s proverb. While criticism can hurt, it can also be an opportunity for growth. The challenge is to glean truth from a barbed comment and learn what you can from it. Elvis learned from that experience the audience of the 1954 Grand Old Opry wasn’t his audience, but he soon found his base. If he was determined to go back to the Opry and focus on it, we may have never heard of Mr. Presley.

If we do anything of value, we will face critics. Decide today how you can learn from it without allowing it to get you down.

Categories
motivation

Stockpiling Coffee and Other Things

Illustration of a man with his coffee. His cat is sitting atop his head.

Swiss Government Gets Roasted Over Coffee Stockpile Changes 

I nearly spit out my coffee when I heard the dreadful news the other day. It seems the Swiss Government was considering taking coffee off of the Essential-to-Life list.

Illustration of a man with his coffee. His cat is sitting atop his head.

It’s rather humorous, even to this coffee drinker. If the world was coming to an end, would coffee really matter? It would be a comfort, but essential to life?

We get fixated on things we consider valuable and begin stockpiling them. We become stingy before we know it. All those coffee beans could be useful now. Do we really need to stockpile 16,000 tons of coffee for a population of 8 million people?

It reminds me of this Proverb:

Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything.

Proverbs 11:24 NLT

We end up losing the very thing we are stingy about. Before you stockpile money, wealth or coffee, consider if what you are holding back may make you poorer in the end.

Categories
motivation

Of Dogs and Fools

I’ve had a few dogs over the years. The one thing they had in common is that they did things that just weren’t good for them.

And yes, I’ve seen dogs do what the following proverb says:

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.

Proverbs 26:11

You would think dogs know better. You would also think we humans would know better. We frequently do things that aren’t good for us.

  • Eat or drink to excess
  • Get involved in bad relationships
  • Zone out on television or other media
  • Repeat bad habits in work or personal life
  • Speak something we know we shouldn’t say

This proverb reminds me of how repulsive a bad habit can be. Before we return to that foolishness once again, let us consider how foolish it is to do the same mistake again and expect a different, better result.