Tiny Devotional for Thursday, 08-05-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, let’s go with tamales and theology.

Keep your way far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house,
Otherwise you will give your vigor to others,
And your years to the cruel one;
Proverbs 5:8-9, NASB


Context: this is the wise father, giving instruction to his son, concerning strange women.

“Stay away from them, or you waste your life!”

The response of the son is not recorded; thus, I have to substitute my own reaction when having this conversation with my father:

“___“

Why a non-reaction? Because it was a non-conversation. And why was it a non-conversation? That’s really not my story to tell. 

I DID have this paternal conversation, but only  AFTER I had entered the house of the strange woman:

“That’s not the way I was raised.”

Oh, I could write books on that conversation. In fact, I’m sort of writing them in my head right now, despite some feeble-but-righteous, ultimately victorious attempts to stop.

Result: In middle Georgia from 1969-1972, strange drugs were more available to a teen/young man than strange women, which is the ONLY reason that strange drugs won the race to waste my life. 

Parents, ignoring it won’t work. Also, saying DON’T DO IT won’t work.  What eventually worked for me, and what has ALWAYS worked best, is providing a good example. You already know that, maybe even better than I do.

I had the example, first in the form of a praying grandmother, and second in the form of two righteous men at church.

Wow. I hope I’ve been, and am being, the right example to my kids and grandkids.


Peace be on your household.

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