Good morning, Samara.
Well—I did it—I yielded to that snow temptation yesterday. I made it up to Timberline. My fat skis performed well, but I didn’t stay long. One reason was that it was already late—didn’t actually get skis on till about noon. Another reason was that it was predominantly “white-out.” Those conditions don’t allow depth perception—forcing one to kind of ski blind—flying over terrain that you can’t see or anticipate. Another reason was that I wanted to pass by and check out a guy’s huge log in Boring that he wants me to slab up with my chainsaw mill, and have enough time to run on to Wood Village to pick up my sharpened sawmill blades at Wood-Mizer before they close. I did it all. Passing through Colton on my return home, I picked up a gallon of fresh raw milk and a quart of cream at the Ross Ranch.
Now—let’s see what Proverbs 13 has for us to think about—and heed.
Be blessed. Love, Tua.
PS: It sure is tempting to lay aside all my work for a few hours and run up to the snow. There’s over 8 feet of snow depth now at Timberline.
Is it possible to dunk a dry paper towel in liquid and not have any of that liquid saturate the towel?—so that when you remove it from the liquid it’s still dry? Of course not! In fact, that’s one of the main functions of a paper towel—to soak up the environment in which you place it. So if you dip the towel in Kool-Aid, it will be saturated with Kool-Aid. If you put it in cat urine, it will soak up that—or in battery acid, it soaks up that. Duh!
The point to make here is that the hearts of humans are much like paper towels in the sense that they too tend to soak up their environment. The big difference is that paper towels don’t have hearts—no objective intelligence, reasoning, or personal responsibility so as to choose what they will soak up. Proverbs 4:23 is probably the best instruction ever given to mankind—maybe the best single piece of advice you will ever hear: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” In other words, “More important than anything else in your world is that you be very careful about what you soak up with your heart and mind. Why? Because the contents of your heart will impact and determine the quality of every other part of your life and outcome.”
It’s extremely important to judge people and friends at heart level—at the level of worldview (values and beliefs about God and our responsibilities before Him). The same is true of judging books, movies, activities, and entertainment. If we are not careful, we can be soaking up stuff that is more harmful to our lives than beneficial.
Here is the great value of soaking up the Word of God in general and the Book of Proverbs in particular. It offers an opportunity to WALK WITH THE WISE AND BY THAT INFLUENCE GROW WISE—rather than just thoughtlessly running around with a bunch of numb skulls. Make no mistake about it, Samara—herein is your greatest personal potential and opportunity (God’s general plan for your life)—to become an INFLUENCER for wisdom rather than one INFLUENCED by folly.