Friday, March 6, 2009

Wisdom and Folly

A Bible opened to the book of Proverbs

Earlier this week William was watching his Cars movie, and he heard The King tell Lightning McQueen, "You're stupid." William has seen this movie about 97 times, but this is the first time he noticed that the word "stupid" is used. His eyes got big and he looked at me completely shocked. "He said, "stupid!" William informed me.

"Yes, he did. That's a naughty word," I started to say. Then I realized that was the easy way out. Stupid isn't a naughty word. It's only naughty if you use it in the wrong way. I then changed my answer. "Yes, William. But in all honesty, some people are stupid." William's eyes got even bigger. Had his mommy really just used the word stupid?!!

I told William about the book of Proverbs in the Bible. It teaches us about wisdom and folly, about being wise and being stupid. The next day William and I sat down in my bed together to read verses about wisdom and folly. I thought William would only sit through two or three verses, but he kept asking for more! We read and discussed about 15 verses on wisdom and folly! After that we prayed together, and we asked God to teach us to be wise.

Throughout this week Will and I have been reinforcing this lesson with William. As we go through daily life we talk about actions that are wise and actions that are foolish. Even at the age of three, William has a very good grasp of what is wise and what is foolish. We pray that he will grow into a wise and godly man, and that he will not choose the path of folly.

Here are some of the verses William and I have discussed:

  • "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Proverbs 1:7
  • "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother." Proverbs 10:1
  • "A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom." Proverbs 10:23
  • "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid." Proverbs 12:1
  • "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Proverbs 13:20
  • "A fool's talk brings a rod to his back, but the lips of the wise protect them." Proverbs 14:3
  • "A patient man has great understanding, but a quick-tempered man displays folly." Proverbs 14:29
  • "Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools." Proverbs 16:22

All verses are taken from the New International Version of the Bible.

6 comments:

  1. What a great post! I'm stopping by from SITS; you posted above me today.

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  2. Rachel, you took wonderful advantage of that teachable moment! It showed wisdom on your part to teach William such a foundational lesson about life, one that I suspect many, many people have never heard or learned. Well done.

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  3. Hi.
    just stoppin' by via SITS to say hello!

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  4. He is sooo precocious! I can totally picture his face when he said 'He said stupid!'. What a lovely way you used that to teach him...

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  5. What a great teaching moment...just think, if he hadn't been watching CARS, you might have missed it. I never thought of turning it around. I will have to try that next time one of my boys points out that word in a movie.

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  6. Bravo for taking advantage of a moment like that to teach Biblical Truth. Unfortunately we often choose the quick response of, "Yes, that's not very nice." or such and loose great opportunities.

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