The Law of Kindness

It has always been my goal to emulate the proverbial woman described in Proverbs 31. I had hoped I would get better and better at it, but as time goes by, I'm afraid I see myself farther away instead.
Maybe it's perspective, maybe it's the wisdom of age that says, you're don't know nearly as much as you THINK you know.

When I was young and idealistic I knew exactly how I did and didn't want to parent my own children.
Now, in retrospect, I see things I WISH I had done differently. I didn't have all the answers after all, and some of the answers I thought I had were wrong.

 Talking with other empty-nesters seems to confirm this truth:

 This is all part of the HUMAN CONDITION.

 

 

Anyway, I digress.

 

 I still turn to Proverbs 31 now and then, and on a recent occasion I noticed the word LAW in verse 26 and it intrigued me.

 

"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is

 

the LAW OF KINDNESS.

 

 

 

 A bit of study showed me that here, she has BOUND her tongue to a LAW. No outside power could force this binding, it was her doing.

 

 This was not a casual, Well, I'll try to be nice if I can thing!  To be bound by a law implies several things:

• it is compulsory, not optional
• under obligation
• not an option to operate outside the terms

So, I am, of course, forced to ask myself :

 

Have I bound my tongue to the law of kindness?

 

Like most things, I don't think it's a one-time decision. It's a daily, hourly, moment-to-moment decision I must make.

 

Could it be part of our LORD'S admonition to take up our cross daily and follow HIM?

 

Thank you, my proverbial friend, for continuing to show me who Jesus wants me to be!