My mom was the queen of pithy sayings, so my childhood was filled with her “wise proverbs” about how to live life. She drew wisdom from many sources, including the Bible, that fit almost any situation. In fact, when we celebrated her 70th birthday by showering her with 70 of the things we loved about her, I wrote out 70 different sayings as my gift. This contrasted greatly to my brother-in-law, who presented 70 pounds of composted hog manure for her garden! She responded to his gift with joy because her tomatoes would benefit and you “never look a gift horse in the mouth!”

I cannot tell you how many times I heard that pride comes before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). I chalked this up to having a pesky little brother who delighted in making my life miserable. Whenever I was down or angry, she reminded me “A cheerful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22). I saw this play out years later when my patient’s response to her diagnosis impacted her progress.

And whenever I jumped into an argument before listening to the facts, Mom reminded me how reckless I was because “spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish” (Proverbs 18:13). Good advice for life in general!

Even though Mom had a saying for seemingly every situation, she also realized that life is more complicated than any Proverb suggests. Each circumstance needs to be understood within its unique context – life is oftentimes gray, not the black and white a Proverb implies. Most big problems don’t have simple, one-sentence proverbial answers – that’s why they’re big problems in the first place. But Proverbs and the truth embedded in them are often good starting points when tackling a challenge.

Or as Mom would say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!”

Questions for reflection:

  • What Proverb in today’s reading stood out to you as helpful advice for today? Why did it stand out to you?
  • What Proverb in today’s reading stood out to you as unhelpful advice for today? Why did it stand out to you?
  • What will you do differently today, if anything, because of these Proverbs?