* A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.“

Tis the season for things to be in season… I missed strawberry season but i’m planning to travel north soon and pick up strawberries there. Down here it started blueberry season and peach season and cherry season all at once… I think it’s early but I don’t mind – all these juicy treats yum yum yum! I love summer and summer treats and the heat and the sun and the fun.

The cherries are juicy yum and just after buying some myself, two friends independently gave me cherries they picked… It’s like God giving us advice again and again and again. God’s advice is juicy advice and we really should heed it. The juiciest of advice is that when we listen to God’s advice, we are less and less inclined to listen to foolish advice, less and less to desire gossip, less and less desiring to say more and more.

Here are a few more favorite proverbs from chapters seventeen and eighteen:

* Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

* Why should fools have money in hand to buy wisdom, when they are not able to understand it?

* Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.

* A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

* A discerning person keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

* Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.

* Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.

* The words of the mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.

* The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating.

* The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to their very lives.

* The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.

*The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.

* From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied.

* The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

AMEN!