When I started reading through the Proverbs, I realized that I kept seeing the same instructions or pearls of wisdom repeated in different chapters, on different days. It reminded me of my Grocery List: milk, eggs, coffee, chocolate, cheese, bananas, bread, OJ… These are things that I need every week. They are always on my list, because they make my family work. The fact that I got milk last week is completely irrelevant to the fact I need milk this week. Similarly, the fact that I prayed for wisdom last week about this Bible study has no baring on the fact that I must seek it again this week for a hardship with a friend. Wisdom is always on my Grocery List of prayer. The same should be said of control for my tongue. This, in fact, should be put on automatic delivery. I wish they had Amazon Prime, hourly-automatic-delivery for tongue control. These are my eight themes, my Great Eight. Yours may be different. You may have a Top Ten, an Excellent Eleven, or a Fab Five (or Fifty). It doesn’t really matter what happens to be your list or how many, it is just key to have one. Because we all know what happens when we go to the grocery store without a list, you come home with Oreos and no dinner. So make a list as you mine these chapters, look for your themes, your repeat go-to heart tugs. I made a column for each theme and I wrote out verses that fell under each one. They are reminders to me, a Grocery List for the Heart that keeps me from wandering aimlessly in the aisles of life. They are sustenance; they are mile markers and exit ramps to help me get through the day and stay on track.

For these next 4 weeks, if you commit to reading about 10 verses a day, 5 days a week, you will cover 6 chapters. Go slowly, listen as you read. What tugs at your heart, what might your “cupboard of your heart” be in need of? Make your own Grocery List. The aisles of Proverbs are never ending. There is Manna to last a lifetime.

My Great Eight

Wisdom/Understanding, how to find it, what it looks like to live with it, its value
Making plans and how to have success with them
Hard work and its importance in living rightly
How to handle !!!ANGER!!!, Anxiety (and other extreme emotions)
Our tongues and what to do about our speech
The importance of discipline and seeking counsel and the company we keep)
Heart Issues, the importance of how we keep, tend to, focus on the matter in our and of our hearts
Upright living – how to live ‘rightly’ from God’s perspective and the importance of doing so