Proverbs: On getting some Wisdom

Proverbs 8:35  For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord.

I want life.  Real and true life.  And favor.  I want that too.  So I guess I better be praying for some wisdom, as that is what Solomon is writing about.  And looking back over my life, I can say I think Solomon is right.  When I have made good decisions, done the right thing, I was blessed, if only inside my own heart, for the knowing that I made a wise decision.  Sometimes, that is seemingly the only benefit of doing the right thing:  the knowledge that you did the right thing.

But so many times there have been more benefits that just the knowledge of the right choice.  I think favor spills over.  When we do wise things, especially as parents, other people (our little people) see us.  They see us and they want to imitate our ways whether or not we are making the right choices. They do what we do, not what we say, yes?

So much of why I want "life" is because I want my kids to have "life."  I want them to love well.  Serve God.  Make good choices.  Help others.  I want them to live out the things that give life.  I want them to feel good about how they have lived in the long term.  And if I am not feeling good about how I am living, how will they know how to do that?  While it is possible to make a new path for oneself, it is always easier to follow along behind someone who has gone before you.  Their lives will, of course, look different from mine.  They will only do some of the same things I do.  My hope is that one of their take-aways will be to do the right thing, the honest thing, the loving thing.  My prayer is that I am teaching them how to do that, that I am guiding them (with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit) in the circumstances that arise in their lives, so that they can learn wisdom.

So, the question is, where do I need wisdom?  My prayer is the the Holy Spirit will be with me every second, interceding in all things so that I am wise and that my kids are watching me be wise.

Ps.  Kids do not get easier as they get older.  Oh, they do in some aspects.  They wipe their own behinds and brush their own teeth and get themselves dressed.  They might even learn how to do some chores and help with their siblings.  But oh boy (pun intended, ha!) their little ears perk up more and listen in to everything we say.  They watch how I act toward and respond to people.  They see what things are important to me by how I am living, who I am loving, how I am loving them.  And then I have to explain myself.  Sometimes I can say I have done well, but other times, I am asking their forgiveness or confessing that I was far from Christ-like.

And I explain that growing into being like Jesus takes our whole lives.  Sometimes we are good at it, and sometimes we are so not.  The greatest thing we can count on is that Jesus loves us either way.  The wise parent in me wants to make sure they know that.