Read Proverbs 15:1  Which would you like?  Peace and quiet at home or anger and fighting?  I would like things at my house to be calm and peaceful.  So, if you have peace or fighting at your house, it depends on what you do.  Our verse says that if someone at your house says something to you, you have a choice.  You can be nice to them or you can be mean to them.  If you are nice, they will be nicer.  But if you are cranky to them, they will probably get cranky to you right back.  When someone is having a bad day and you are nice to them, they usually calm down and get a little bit nicer.  But if someone is having a bad day and you are smart right back at them, they may even get angrier because of your sharp answer.  With our smart answers, we keep each other in a bad mood.  So, the choice is up to you.  You can help someone to get nicer with a soft answer or you can keep someone stirred up with a sharp answer.

Read Proverbs 14:34  Our verse for today is a great one for our country just now, since we are getting ready to vote for our president this November.  The word exalt is a good word that means to lift up.  The word reproach is a bad word that means to be disgusted.  So our verse means that righteousness is good for our country, but sin is bad for our country.  Most of our government officials are not Christians, but at least they operate by Bible principles.  Because of the Christian leaders who started our country, many government leaders today are still following their examples, even though they are not Christians themselves.  But when government leaders openly disobey Bible principles, well that is not good.  And when government leaders openly sin and hire people around them who are sinners like themselves, that is pretty bad.  We need to pray for our government leaders and we need to encourage the adults around us to vote for the right government leaders.  We need to elect leaders who love God or at least follow God's principles.

Read Proverbs 14:29  We talked a few days ago about someone who has a short fuse.  Do you remember what a short fuse means?  When you throw a firecracker, you want a long fuse so that you have plenty of time to throw the firecracker before it explodes.  If it has a short fuse, you will light it and then draw back to throw it, but the fuse is so short that it blows up in your hand.  That isn't good - although your friends may think it is kind of funny!  Someone who has a short fuse gets mad easily.  They can't take anything - they get angry really fast.  Our verse says that someone who is sloooooooooow to get angry has great understanding.  This person is wise and doesn't let other people get them angry.  We need to pause and not get angry.  The second half of our verse says that someone who reacts too quickly - someone who is hasty - usually makes mistakes.  If you do your math paper too fast you usually make several mistakes.  Then you have to go back and correct the mistakes.  But if you slowed down and took your time, you would probably get more of the math problems right and not have to go back and do them over again.  When we hurry to get done, we make mistakes and actually take more time because we have to do the problems twice: once when we get them wrong, and then again when we have to do them over.  When someone is in a hurry, they get themselves into trouble.  Our verse says that they are foolish.  Let me give you some good advice: slow down; be careful; don't get in a hurry and don't let things make you mad.  Don't rush through life.  Do it right the first time!

Read Proverbs 14:23  There are two opposites in our verse for today: one is talking about doing something and the other is actually doing it.  Solomon says that it is good to do any kind of work.  When you do a good job on a project, you feel good about yourself.  That is because God made us to work.  Back in the garden of Eden, Adam was given the responsibility of taking care of all the plants and dressing the garden.  He was given a big responsibility by God.  But I am sure that Adam was happy to see his finished work when he was done.  But think, when Satan came into the garden to tempt Eve, how much work did he do?  He did nothing!  He only talked to Eve.  And talking is also mentioned in our verse.  Our verse says that talking only tends towards penury.  Penury means poverty.  Poverty means poor - you have nothing.  So, unless you are a salesman, talking gets you nothing.  What is our lesson for Proverbs 14:23?  Do your work; don't talk about doing it.

Read Proverbs 14:17  Do you know what a hot head is?  Usually someone who gets mad easily is called a hot head.  Or sometimes we say that a person has lost his temper.  We may say that someone has a short fuse.  The fuse is the wick that we light, which burns to light the firecracker.  Someone who has a short fuse means that they blow up quickly – like a firecracker that blows up quickly because if has a short fuse.  That means that they did not have enough self control to control their temper.  There are many things during the day that make us mad.  But what do we do when we get mad?  Do we think about the situation that is making us mad, or do we quickly yell out our frustration.  Do we think about whether we are wrong, or do we just get mad at whoever is crossing us?  When our parents correct us, do we need the correcting?  If we do, there is no reason for us to get mad.  We are the ones who are wrong, not our parent, who is doing their job in correcting us.  If anything, we should get mad at ourselves and not our parents.  Our verse says that when we get mad easily, we usually say and do the wrong thing.  That is because a mad person is not thinking straight.  They are just angry and say and do hurtful things.  They are out of control - they are controlled by their anger.  Usually, when they calm down, they are embarrassed by what they have done and said.  But then the damage has been done.  They have said hurtful words.  They have done angry things.  Usually they are sorry – but it is too late.  When you feel yourself getting angry, try this:  don’t say anything until you silently count to 10.  And while you are counting, think about what you should say.  Usually, you should say nothing.  You should just calm down.  Let’s practice not getting angry.  One of you say, “Grrrrrrrr!” in an angry way.  The other one silently counts to 10 and sweetly says, “I am not mad.  I am in control of my temper.”  Now switch parts.  It feels good to be in control of your feelings, doesn’t it?  Ask God to help you keep control of your temper.

Read proverbs 14:15  When someone tells you something, do you believe them?  I usually do, but sometimes I get suckered in.  Some people believe anything that someone else tells them.  Solomon calls them simple and they can easily be led astray.  They believe anything that someone tells them.  When I was in the first grade, I had a friend who told me that he was a bird expert.  He told me that he could get me any kind of bird that I wanted.  But he was only a first grader.  I was suckered in.  I believed him.  He was just telling me a whopper of a lie to make himself look good.  So I told him to bring me a peacock.  The next day, he said that he hadn’t found on just yet.  Each day I asked him if he had my peacock.  He had an excuse every day.  He said that he had come across a whole flock of peacocks and had run in to catch one, but had stumbled and they all got away.  I kept on believing him even though he never brought me a peacock to school.  I learned from that experience.  Was Toby in the first grade a bird expert?  No, he wasn’t.  I should not have believed him.  You should only believe someone if they are trustworthy.  You should only believe someone if they are old enough to know what they are talking about.  And lastly, you should only believe someone if they have knowledge in the topic that they are talking about.  Should you trust someone who is ten years old when they talk about driving a car?  Why not?  Should you trust a poor man when he tells you how to get rich?  Why not?  Should you trust someone when they tell you how to get to heaven?  Why or why not?  When someone tells you something, stop and think!  Do they know what they are talking about?  Can you trust them?  Should you trust them?  Who are some people that you can trust?  Who are some people who you cannot trust?  Can you trust God?  Why?

Read Proverbs 14:12  I do a lot of traveling and I enjoy going to new places.  But one of the problems with going to a new place is that you may not know exactly where you are going.  New places in Michigan and Ohio are easy to find because the land is flat and the roads are straight.  When you start out going in a certain direction, you can keep right on going in that direction.  But I was in West Virginia this summer, and it is hard to find your way around in West Virginia.  That is because of all of the hills and hollers.  I am sure you know what a hill is, but a holler…  Well a holler is what people in West Virginia call the space between the hills.  A holler is the valley, usually with a stream going down it.  And in West Virginia, the streams and hollers, and hills are snaky – they curve all around.  You may start out going in one direction, just following the road around the hill, and pretty soon, you are going in the opposite direction!  At one place I visited this summer, I was told to make three right hand turns in a row.  I thought that I would be going in a circle - but I didn’t.  After I made the first right hand turn, the road followed the hill curving left.  After I made the second right hand turn, the road curved left again, letting me make the third right hand turn.  I had to just follow the directions and I could get to where I wanted to go.  I couldn’t worry about the hills and curves in the road; I had to depend upon the one who gave me the directions.  I had to follow their directions.  Our verse for today says that we may think that we are going in the right direction, but that is only what we think.  We don’t know the future.  We don’t know what is going to happen to us tomorrow.  But our heavenly Father does!  He sees the curves in life’s road and knows where we need to go.  He knows what is best for us and how to best get to where we need to be.  That is if we are willing to follow His directions.  We think we know what is best for us, but our way leads to death.  God’s way leads to life everlasting.  And God’s way leads to a happy life here on earth as we are on our way to heaven.  Trust God and you’ll never be sorry that you did!