On Thursday night, while Oliver was being born, I flipped open my ELW: Pastor Care Occasional Services, Readings, and Prayers, looking for anything that spoke to me. I dung threw the various chapters, flipped open a few psalms, and I was ready to post an angry blog post about how I didn’t see any prayers dealing with the birth of the baby. So, yes, while the miracle of life was happening, I was composing a blog post in my head for this website. Multi-tasking at its finest.
Alas, that angry blog post will never appear because I finally found those prayers this morning (that page in the table of contents just never materialized for some reason). So on Thursday night, I took part of my wife’s grandmother’s tradition and opened up Proverbs 12 (since it was the twelfth day of the month) for a little look-see. Here’s what I found.
Proverbs 12:4 “A good wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.” Funny, but not sure if this is the best thing to share with the wife in the middle of labor (but I did it anyways).
Proverbs 12:8 “One is commended for good sense, but a perverse mind is despised.” I hope this verse never discovers that things that I have laughed at on the internet (my love of animated gifs will never die).
Proverbs 12:10 “The righteous know the needs of their animals, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” Chula and Twinkie enjoy quoting this about 2 hours before their scheduled dinnertime, hoping it will trick me into feeing them early.
Proverbs 12:14 “From the fruit of the mouth one is filled with good things, and manual labor has its reward.” I’m not sure if programming on the internet and blogging counts as manual labor but I hope so.
Proverbs 12:15 “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice.” I hope Oliver considers this when he is in high school.
Proverbs 12:24 “The hand of the diligent will rule, while the lazy will be put to forced labor.” This…this could be read dangerously I think. The poor are just lazy? Those who enslave are diligent? Are corporations diligent people? Etc. Etc.
Proverbs 12:25 “Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.” I experienced this all the time over the last five days.
Proverbs 12:28 “In the path of righteousness there is life, in walking its path there is no death.” I like this. I hope it suits you, kid.