Sunday bunnies

Friday Proverb - house building

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house,
but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

This one looks like a no brainer, after all, only an idiot would tear down her own house! However, while I don't go around demolishing my living quarters (though Andrew describes my approach to gardening with the phrase "rip rip woodchip") there are plenty of times when I figuratively do tear down my house. Times when I speak or write or act hastily without thinking through the consequences of my behaviour for others and even myself. Or simply times when I just amble on with life without considering what I'm doing or what the end effect of my choices will be.

So how do I change? I need to work out how to build my own house. This involves catching myself before I act destructively. Asking questions helps. Am I just needing to vent, or can I say words that will bring healing, growth or change? What is the ultimate direction of my plans, big and small? Am I just aimlessly doing stuff, or do I work as a builder? This applies in physical, intellectual and relational realms, among others.

A few examples:

• physical - getting house ready for baby. Am I making preparations that will actually benefit our baby? How many of the things on my list are going to build our family in the right kind of way? Is it being done in such a way that we don't ruin our budget, or, less obviously, our spiritual lives?

• intellectual - am I seeking to love God with my mind? Am I thinking about things that will help me to see the world more and more as He does, or am I filling it with rubbish?

• relational - if I give vent to my emotions now what will the end result be? How can I work to resolve the problem so that this relationship improves?

when things look shaky

With regard to Hebrews 12:28, F. F. Bruce says

... in a day when everything that can be shaken is being shaken before our eyes and even beneath our feet, let us in our turn give thanks for the unshakable kingdom which we have inherited, which endures forever when everything else to which men and women may pin their hopes disappears and leaves not a wrack behind.

p. 392 of The Epistle to the Hebrews by F. F. Bruce in the NICNT series, published by Eerdmans.

Sunday bunny

A close up of Koko Black