Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 07-11-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, care for some stale french fries?

The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the perversity of the treacherous will destroy them.
Proverbs 11:3, NASB

When I think of a guide, I see Daniel Boone. That’s strange; I’ve never encountered a guide like that. I have used maps; today, I use a GPS program. It makes being geographically lost a trivial problem.

What’s not trivial is being lost in finding a direction for your life. This, I HAVE encountered; twice, that I can recall.

The first time, I was a college freshman in 1971. I had been launched on that course as a child, by the expectations of close family. It was the greatest educational gift they could have given me, because I never doubted that it was the right choice. My problem was that once I got there, I didn’t know what to do. I was overwhelmed by my options, and got lost. (Army enlistment helped me re-direct.)

The second time was less (potentially) lethal, but still traumatic. I was in my mid-forties. My stepfather has passed; I was estranged from my bio-father, I had no examples, no models to emulate for life as a responsible adult, husband, and father.

Ralph Boynton, a counselor I was seeing for grief work, told me I could self-mentor. I angrily dismissed his suggestion immediately; how could I guide myself to a place I’d never been?

It took a year to realize he was right.  I COULD guide myself, using what I had learned, to prep me for my future. 

I’m not claiming to be upright, but that’s how integrity guides them.

Peace be on your household.


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