A Manual for Living

I like the way "The Message" renders the first few verses of Proverbs 1. It describes the word as "a manual for living, for learning what's right and just and fair. To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality."

Without a manual for living to teach us what's right and to give us a grasp on reality, Giving for a Living would be an impossibility. Me-ism is everywhere and I know that I need this reality check daily lest I regress into passive materialism and self-gratification. I guess that's the daily challenge. To move out of one's comfort zone with all of it's passing pleasures and choose to live to give and to serve. The joy is certainly worth it but sometimes I can forget that life is not all about me and that's why I love the scriptures and how they regulate my waywardness.

"Lord, thank you for giving us a 'manual for living' and for the daily reality checks that your Word brings."