Ponder Your Path ☺ Aphorisms about life

Proverbs 15:19 says, "The way of the lazy is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway." Now, the Aramaic for way has a couple definitions - a way of living, a path that leads to a destination, a physical journey, but perhaps the most interesting is explained in Gesenius' lexicon - "the advantages or disadvantages springing from a course of life". People who are lazy always seem to have an obstacle that is standing in their way. This verse says that they are not just up against a wall, but a wall of thorns. If they try to scale it, it is painful. If they move along it, it tears at them. But it doesn't just hurt them, it sticks them. Lazy folks are always "stuck on something". There's always some prerequisite that they need, some possession that would make things easier, or some task that they have to do, and this is always standing between them and a better life. Whether they realize it or not, they use these things as excuses to justify their inaction toward doing the things to get them where they wish to be, or where they could be. In contrast, the upright (or straight person) moves quickly from one thing to the next. But they don't just face the hard stuff head-on, knocking it out over and over again. Their commitment to do hard things actually results in a life experience that is smoother. The Bible says that they move along a literal "groomed highway" that is level, allowing them to move quickly and do the things that are important to them. And when you have a smooth path to walk upon, this frees you up to dream and make steps for the future. What is standing between you and your dream? What can you do today to overcome it? God calls us to wait on Him, and we must be patient for His timing, but that does not mean that we must not do anything. What can you do today to be a steward of where He has you? Are there prerequisites to your dreams that will take years to do? What small things can you do to make big things a reality?