Observations From Hadleyville: WISDOM FROM DAD

Saturday, March 3, 2012

WISDOM FROM DAD

"Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction
and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. "
Proverbs 1:8

The book of proverbs is not a book of guarantees. These pithy sayings are not promises from God that nothing in your life will ever go wrong if you follow them. Many people have trained up their children in the way they should go and never saw them follow the Lord in later life.

No, Proverbs are simply wisdom about the way life works in general. There is no real difference between the spiritual sounding lines found the ancient book of Proverbs and slightly more modern wisdom such as, "a stitch in time saves nine." The ancient Near Eastern world loved proverbs. There was a whole wisdom movement found in the writings of Egyptians, Babylonians and most literate societies of the day.

I'm not disparaging the godly wisdom of Proverbs, I am dispelling the notion that these are "magic words" to summon the power of God.

When I think about learning wisdom from my dad the progression went something like this...

* When I was 5 my dad was the smartest man in the world

* When I was 16 I thought my dad was an overbearing Tyrant

* At 17 I thought he knew nothing about life

* At 21 I began going to him for advice

* Now I just quote him all the time without giving him credit

When you honor your parents they--in turn--are blessed to have such a wise child.

1 comment:

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WORDS OF WISDOM FOR WRITERS

The secret of becoming a writer is that you have to write. You have to write a lot. You also have to finish what you write, even though no one wants it yet. If you don't learn to finish your work, no one will ever want to see it. The biggest mistake new writers make is carrying around copies of unfinished work to inflict on their friends.

I am sure it has been done with less, but you should be prepared to write and throw away a million words of finished material. By finished, I mean completed, done, ready to submit, and written as well as you know how at the time you wrote it.
-Jerry Pournelle

WHAT'S THIS HADLEYVILLE THING?

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain’s works might recognize my blog title. As Samuel Clemons grew older, he became increasingly disillusioned with humanity. Towards the end he began referring to the Damned Human Race; employing the secular and religious epithet at one stroke.

I find I’ve not reached that level of despair myself. I still believe in redemption and I still see signs of nobility even among we fallen, damned creatures. So, I could not bring myself to call this blog “On the Damned Human Race.” I do however, resonate with another of Clemmons stories; “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg.” And viola, there you have it. “Observations From Hadleyville.”