This Beautiful Life

I'm reading through Jonah with my small group and Proverbs in my attempt to read the Bible in a year (it has turned into a year and a half and I'm not even through the Old Testament yet!). In the process, I came across Warren Wiersbe's commentaries. This is the thing... my dad collects his books come to think of it and I've never thought about reading it myself. Kristi, my small group leader, pulled one out for the minor prophets and we've been using it for Jonah so I ordered one for Proverbs (changing up my routine for quiet time because of some comments from Flor) and sat and read it yesterday... holy moly, I'm in love. I just read the introduction yesterday and the first chapter this morning, along with reading Proverbs 1 again. Wiersbe makes several references to other places in the Bible that coincide with the Proverbs because for goodness sakes, sometimes the book looks like my blog-- scattered and whatever he/they thought of next! and I love it... (Sorry for the overuse of the word love today but like is not exactly a strong enough verb!)

Side note: Prudence is always a word that I have seen in a negative light... like a "prudent girl" would be modest, never speaks up for herself or anyone else and is a sort of a negative Nancy. Wiersbe makes reference to prudence meaning "to see the reason behind things." In that case, I would love to be prudent!

Another reference which I can't stop thinking about is connected to Titus 2:10... the last part of the verse says, "... so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." Wiersbe translates this to meaning, "Make the Bible beautiful by living a Godly life."

Reflecting on this... what if I really considered every move I make, every word I say, my facial expressions, body language, thoughts and processes toward people completely beautiful by loving Jesus in every expression? Then the not-so-sweet question comes.... how many times have I messed that up? The crazy thing about God in his sovereignty is that he loves me still and wants to make this mess of a life into a beautiful story of grace, forgiveness, justice, mercy, compassion, and peace. He makes my life beautiful without me even asking... without me even praying or looking to Him sometimes... He takes the moments that I'm annoyed to get to help a sweet man who can't pick up his water in a grocery store to say thank you. He takes the smile of a fuzzy haired thirteen year old to love on me a bit... He takes the compliments and the reality of a fourteen year old beautiful girl to make me a feel just a little more beautiful. We take life and make a mess of it. God takes us and makes a beautiful life of it.

May you make the Bible beautiful by living a Godly life. -Melis