Thank you for joining me for a brand new series for the month of March! I’m so glad you’re here! The idea of this series is similar to that of a book club. We read one chapter of Proverbs each day, which conveniently corresponds to the day of the month. Then, you share with me a verse that blessed you and I will do the same with you. Or, just leave me a comment to let me know that you’re reading along. My mother is Proverbs-lover from my youth, therefore, I feel a close kinship with many of its passages. If you already read a chapter of Proverbs each day, then how about joining in with me, just for something different? I’d love to hear about your favorite verses of Proverbs. I’m calling this series “A March Through Proverbs”. You will be able to find each day listed under the “Series” tab at the top of the page. Also, you can subscribe by clicking HERE to receive each day’s post in your inbox. Okay, get your Bible, and maybe some coffee, and let’s get started!

Proverbs 1: A Reliable Source

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. ~ Proverbs 1:8 (KJV)
It seems like only yesterday that I would wake each morning in the cozy home of Ron and Carolyn Courtney, my dad and mom. They provided a loving and stable environment for me until my marriage at age nineteen. They made life as a couple, and as a Christian, look easy. It was a rude awakening to move out to start my own home and see that it took a lot of work to have that kind of home. It requires discipline to rise early, to read and study God’s Word, to pray, to apply the scriptures to my life, to obey the Holy Spirit’s leading and to show love consistently. I was not a perfect child at all, but after my salvation at age fifteen, I did try to heed their counsel. I sought their advice about whom I should marry. I wanted their guidance about friends, about work and about a million other situations that I faced as a teenager trying to find my place in the world. They gave me sound wisdom, some was from experience; most of it was from the pages of God’s Word. The were a reliable source of counsel to me as teenager, and even as adult.

After seventeen years of marriage and five children, I am seeing the fruit of applying their counsel. I am so thankful for parents who loved me, trained me, listened to me and, most of all, explained things to me over and over. The wise child will heed the verse today and hear the instructions of his mother and father. Even un-saved parents have gained worldly wisdom that is worth hearing. Christian parents who are working to mine the truths of God’s precious Book are a treasure not to be ignored.

I am thankful for the massive number of hours my parents spent talking to me into the night, despite having to rise at four the next morning for work. I appreciate the counsel of my godly mother and father more each and every day. Young person, listen to your parents. You won’t regret it.