Verse of the Day - Proverbs 15:17

Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
~ Proverbs 15:17 (NIV)

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In the movie, "Diary of a Mad Black Woman", a woman who has been married to a prominent, award-toting attorney for 18 years, living in a mansion with all the finest furnishings and clothes is literally kicked to the curb and replaced by another woman. Out on her ear with her few belongings.

She ends up at her Aunt Madea's house in the suburbs, and there she learns to get back to her roots, back to where people love her. She starts over, with no skills, working as a waitress -- down-home hard work with the skill of her hands. She has very little, but she has love and self-respect.

The fatted calf with hatred, or vegetables with love. Hmm...

When people put riches over relationships, they are investing in very unstable stock. When the "getting" is what matters most, instead of the "giving", relationships can dissolve into thin air, or worse, become thick with hatred.

Having wealth is not bad, in and of itself. But how we value it can be. How we view our possessions and pocketbook can negatively affect our relationship with God and those around us. It can be like a drug habit -- eventually, the only thing that matters is the big house, the fancy cars, the plasma TVs in every room, the social calendar. These "drugs" feed one's ego and pleasure, but they are insufficient to meet heart needs. And since relationships have suffered from neglect and carelessness, one can only lean on more cars, more parties, more TVs. It's as vicious as a meth habit. And as lonely.

Disharmony and hatred in the home is a horrible thing. I don't see how anyone would be willing to exchange love for possessions, but they do sometimes. And many have come out of that, with their battle wounds and scars, wishing for the simple beauty of vegetables and love. Some are still in it, wondering what happened to the fairytale of living "happily ever after".

When the home is in harmony, somehow the materials become immaterial -- they can come or go, when love governs a home. But when furnished with hatred, no amount of glitz and glitter can turn a home into gold. It's just a trash heap covered in green dollar bills, and eventually it will implode. I pray that you can put your family relationships first, above all earthly pursuits. Promote love, communication, and respect first -- TVs, cars, and pools second (or seventh or fifteenth!).

Love,
Joelene