Faith Venture

I write several emails a day responding to various requests for my time and attention. I have discovered that I need to take a deep breath, refocus, then cut 80% of what I’ve written. 

I say too much. Explain too much. Drag in thoughts about motivations that probably are not there. I can get snippy, especially when tired or stressed.

Reading a chapter of Proverbs a day for January in order to start the year on the right foot, I noticed over and over the admonitions of reining in anger and minding your tongue.

Every time I have violated that prescription I have lived with regret.

And I know better.

The distance from knowing to speaking or writing within the brain is short. The only circumventing technology is a breath. Maybe also counting. Take Jesus’ advice to Peter about forgiving and use it here—count 70 times 7.

The adventure of life is to learn.

The purpose of life is to grow.

The nature of life is to change.

The challenge of life is to overcome.

The essence of life is to care.

The opportunity of life is to serve.

The beauty of life is to give.

A Proverb

This “proverb” that I picked up somewhere in my reading is not from “The Proverbs”. These are great verbs to consider incorporating into our lives this year.

Learn, Grow, Change, Overcome, Care, Serve, Give.

I don’t know how many times I have read the eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs. I stared at the words and one word popped into consciousness—prudence. Why have I not pondered that word before?

The associated thought was the song from the 1968 Beatles “White Album” written by John Lennon to Prudence Farrow, the sister of actress Mia Farrow—Dear Prudence. 

There was a time when the fashion was to name girls after positive character traits—Hope, Grace,  and yes, Prudence.

But what is prudence? Why should Wisdom, the narrator of the Proverbs, emphasize it?

Prudence is a discipline of oneself, a behavior of minimizing or avoiding risk, making good and careful decisions.

Pause here and reflect on all the hasty and ill-taken decisions taken. They come flooding into my consciousness.

Just as we need to count to ten (or count to ten ten times) before replying to certain statements, a pause before making a final decision on a purchase or a course of action is also, well, prudent.

A person even into their 20s who rush into decisions would look at prudence as crimping their freedom of action. For those of us who have been burned by bad decisions, we have learned prudence. Rushing to decision—or when someone is pressuring us to rush into a decision—usually turns out for the worse.

Prudence. Yes, a worthy character trait to infuse into our lives.

“Avoiding stupidity is easier than seeking brilliance. 90% of success can be boiled down to consistently taking the simple and obvious action for an uncommonly long period of time without convincing yourself that you’re smarter than you are.”

Some days I am convinced that I cannot avoid stupidity. It just seems so natural. 

This idea of consistent, simple, small and obvious actions is powerful. Every swim meet last year I encouraged my granddaughter with “that’s great, just a little better every day.” And this year she is having a great year as a freshman on a very good high school team. 

I go to the gym. My routine with dumbbells varies a little, but not greatly. I am lifting five pounds more per set than at the beginning of 2023. Small victory, but victory nonetheless.

The same happened with mediation. A few minutes a day, day after day, until one day weeks later I noticed the change in personality and outlook.

I still perform occasional acts of stupidity. Fewer than before, maybe. But overall these small acts do add up.