Earrings of Gold...

"Whoever gets sense loves his own soul; he who keeps understanding will discover good." ~Proverbs 19:8

Jesus says, "No one is good but the Father", so discovering good is discovering God.

But.....keeping understanding and getting sense isn't all that easy.
You have to take rebuke and criticism along the way.
And I've always had a hard time taking criticism and rebuke. As soon as I sense it, I close myself up like a hedgehog and hide until the words stop. And for the longest time, I'd tell myself, "Hey, it's okay; this too shall pass; it'll blow over" and tried to forget the whole thing.
And because of it, I continually made the same mistakes.

But one morning, I read the day's devotion from Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest. (I've searched the book many times trying to find the devotion to share, but I simply cannot find it!)
Mr. Chambers was writing about wisdom. It was on one of the Proverbs about rebuke.
Simply, he said that when the fool hears rebuke, he closes the door to wisdom and never improves. Contrarily, the wise man leaves his door open to rebuke--he loves wisdom so much that he jumps at every chance he can in order to be more like Jesus.
(I'd heard this a thousand times from my parents, but something was different about the way Mr. Chambers put it)
That devotion deeply impressed me. The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see that every time I heard rebuke, I had an opportunity--
I could listen and become wiser and learn how to love Jesus better
or
I could ignore the truth and never grow spiritually.

Now every time I read Proverbs, I keep an eye out for those special verses on rebuke.
The one that comes to mind when I am being corrected is Proverbs 25:12, " Like an earring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise man's rebuke to a listening ear."
Hopefully as I grow older, I'll have so many ornaments of fine gold in my heart that I can give them away to those who need them.

So, maybe I shouldn't say I'm being corrected anymore. I'm really being showered with treasures untold. And I'm discovering God.

God knows about ev'rything, about the birds up above and why they sing...

When I was little, I used to do Saxon Math. Many times, I would tell my mother my grade and she would say, "Were those silly mistakes or did you really not understand what you were doing?" More often than not, I would have to answer, "Silly mistakes."
I'm a daydreamer and those silly mistakes would pop up while I had my head in a cloud. I've always hated silly mistakes--not only do you already feel bad for messing up, you feel worse because if you'd really been paying attention, you would have easily seen the right answer.
I made a very silly mistake today. I got up and got ready for my piano lesson and my mother asked, "It's at 10 o'clock, right?" Ever since I switched to a different day and a half an hour later in time, she's been confused about the lesson. And I've gotten used to her being confused, a half hour off. So, when she said "10 o'clock," I immediately assumed she was wrong. "No ma'am. It's at 10:30."
I wasn't very kind to my mother and I made a point of reminding her that she was "always wrong" about the time.
But she was right. And my piano teacher was forgiving, but she couldn't fit me in because of her next student.
I was so afraid that my mom would be angry with me, but she wasn't. She simply told me to come on home, without so much as one 'I told you so'--something I find hard to resist saying when I have the chance. I'm so blessed by her kind, forgiving spirit.
I went to the library on the way home and had the pleasure of a gentleman holding the door for me. That always makes me feel special. So, to return the favor, I held the door for a short lady and her husband.
She looked up at me and said, "You're a tall young lady, how tall are you?"
"5' 8"."
"Wow." She went on about how short people envy tall people.
"Well, tall people envy short people because of their little feet," I answered.
She laughed, "What size shoes do you wear?"
I looked down at my flats and giggled, "10."
Her husband smiled, "That's the size I wear."
And the lady apologized, "Oh, you didn't have to answer that question. You have a nice day."
I really didn't care that she asked me how big my feet were or how tall I was...I was just glad to know that people are friendly.
As I drove home, I looked up at the sky--it's one of those bright Colorado days where the every cloud is perfect--one my mom would call a "Toy Story" sky.
And I wondered how today couldn't be a good day.
I'm so amazed by God. He used a kind man to hold the door and a little lady to bless me, even after I'd messed up the whole morning. And, when I thought about it, if I had gone to the lesson, I would've missed out.
He knows the plans He has for me. He really does. From piano lessons to shoe sizes, He really knows it all.
I can't help but smile at this cute song: (it might be an old one, but it's a good one!)


post title: from "God Knows Everything" from the Donut Man