Wisdom Feast, Proverbs 17

"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife."

Proverbs 17:1

Thanksgiving is fast approaching (one of my favorite holidays). I have had many great memories of feasts and thanks given over the years. I love sitting at big tables with lot's of people, each engaged in pleasant conversation and joyful to participate at the banqueting table. It is hard for me to imagine a table full of strife on this special day, but I imagine it must happen.

Now it is easy to be celebratory on special occasions. The day to day life is much harder. I have been at a table of strife on the journey to get through the day. I'm tired, my wife is tired, and the kids are cranky. We rush to put a meal on the table. Life is give and take and strife can emerge when we are only interested in taking (and we do have those days).

My girls are curious about why we pray over every meal. I love my youngest's answer "We want to pray over our meal, in case it got poisoned." That is one way to ensure that many of your meals are peaceful. It is a subtle reminder that God is in control and he has supplied our natural needs as well as our spiritual.


"Fresh Air for Christ" a narration by John Greene

Proverbs 17:14 - "Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out."

I once took my family for a little dock fishing trip. While we were there, a man accidently knocked another man's fishing pole in the water while he was docking his boat. The other man took offense and began to get upset and was starting to insult the other. Rather than drop the matter and resolve it, the two began to get into shouting match, which upset my wife and scared my two girls. We packed up and left as the two guys continued to threaten each other. I hope they didn't take it further, but we didn't stick around to find out.

I got the feeling that the guy who started the squabble had been in other skirmishes in his life. He had a chip on his shoulder. He felt wronged and wanted to take it out on somebody. His wife who was trying to console him, had been down this path before. I felt sorry for their family as we left, his daughter was crying and the whole family was trying to talk this man out of his anger.

On Mission, On Assignment, and in the ZONE!

Andy Valadez
e-mail: andy@marketingdynamics.org