I hear people, sometimes, who get wrapped around the axel with the gender pronouns in the Bible. Today’s verse can be one that such people would get that way with. The problem with this is they miss the point of the proverb. Simply take the pronoun out and replace it with person, then apply it to your own life.

This proverb is not merely about a woman nor a house. It is about any human being and their life. Think about all the foolish decisions you have made in your life and what they ended up costing you. As for me, when I look back over my life, I see many foolish decisions and paying a big cost. How do we avoid these costly decisions?

For some of us who are older, we may be running out of time. We may not be able to make substantial changes to counteract the costs. What we can do is have a more positive impact on the younger generation. Learning to read, write, and calculate numbers is all well and good. But those, in and of themselves, will not result in good decisions. Some of the most intelligent people in the world have made some of the most boneheaded decisions.

The answer is to teach our younger generation to think. We must teach them to weigh the pros and cons of a decision before they make it. We must get them to slow down, stop making snap decisions, and think through the issue before deciding. I worked for a Warrant Officer when I was a young Marine, who said, “Nothing is so urgent you can’t take time to think about it, short of life and death.” I have always remembered that saying, not that I have always lived it.

In order to build something that will last, we must be wise, we must take time to think. We must slow down, rather than continue running at light speed. It may sound contrary to our way of thinking, but it is very true. Another military saying is, “Fast is slow and slow is fast.” It means that going fast often leads to mistakes, which means having to do it again. Slowing down, even just a bit, to think it through or to ensure we do it right will save us time later.

When it comes to building our lives, there are many decisions to be made. Where will we go to college? What degree will we seek? Where will we buy a house? Where will we work? The list can go on ad nauseum.  We all know the questions. We face them every day. It’s not whether we will face these questions but how we will approach them. Rushing through them can lead to tearing our lives apart and costing us dearly. Taking time to wisely wrestle with them and make the best decision can build us a life that will be both rewarding and lasting.

 

Proverbs 14:1: The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.