Darin and I moved into a “new to us” house about two months
ago. Our amazing C-group helped us move
the boxes and unpack the PODS, we had sweet friends bring us cookies and meals
and even had a few "welcome to the neighborhood" parties. It was a crazy exciting time for the Millers!
But after our things were officially moved from one house to
the other, the work of establishing our new home began. It’s a slow, tedious process, organizing
pots and pans, figuring out how to make the closets functional, deciding where
to put the kitchen table and then realizing it’s all wrong and deciding again where
to put the kitchen table.
Proverbs 24:3-4 has some things to say about all of this:
By
wisdom a house is built,
and by
understanding it is established;
by
knowledge the rooms are filled
with
all precious and pleasant riches.
These
verses took on a whole new meaning for me during our move. Wisdom is important:
it’s a foundation for our decisions.
Like in our house, the layout of the rooms is important. The Proverbs
are full of wisdom-building lessons for our daily lives. Proverbs 24 alone touches on everything from
envy to work ethic. Lots of great wisdom
to build on!
But,
with understanding the house is established.
Once we actually lived in the new house for a few weeks, we understood
that it would be better to put our kitchen table in the middle of the room
rather than by the window. Understanding our house a little better led to it
feeling a bit more established…a little more like home. It’s like the difference between head
knowledge and heart knowledge. I can
recite the wise Proverbs all day, but until I begin acting wisely, I will never
have true wisdom. And, if my heart
doesn’t understand, I’m sure to fall back to my foolish ways!
We all
know that what really makes a home is not the stuff in it but the people who
live there. But I have to tell you, the moment I put our sweet family portrait
over my mantle, I felt a flutter in my heart… "This new house feels like home." I believe that God just flat out loves it
when He sees us make wise choices, and with those wise choices come all kinds
of precious and pleasant riches. I know
that when I choose not to rejoice when my enemies fall or let my heart be glad
when they stumble (v 17), that
God is molding me into His likeness, He’s drawing me closer to Him. I
understand better who He is and His vast love for me. Nothin’ but precious and pleasant riches for
my heart!
Have
you experienced a time in your life when a wise choice led to a better understanding
of who God is? And what “precious and
pleasant riches” followed?
Leah
Miller
Interim
Children’s Ministry Admin
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