Proverbs 14:4 “Without oxen a stable stays clean”

Isn’t that a funny scripture to begin a blog post? The day I am writing this is November 14, so I am reading Proverbs 14. Each day I try to read a few Psalms and a Proverb that corresponds to the day of the month. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, so that works really well.

Today…Proverbs 14:4 took me back to a time before I even had kids. Many, many years ago.

I first heard that verse at a Bible Study in Omaha, Nebraska at the Christian Brotherhood Fellowship evening women’s Bible Study. The Bible teacher was able to adapt the verse to what it means in today’s world for me (a “non-farmer” type city dweller).

Oxen helped with the plowing and other farm work. But of course, when they are in the stable, they don’t use the restroom, if you know what I mean. So it is NOT clean. It is smelly. (Side note: And that is a good reason to have “inside shoes” and “outside shoes”. The stable shoes are definitely “outside shoes”.)

So, adapting that to family life, if there are no people in your home, then there are no messes. The “stable” is clean. But that is not a “family” then. The object lesson is to be grateful for the messes, because it means you are sharing LIFE with others. With your family.

Proverbs 14:17 “Short-tempered people do foolish things.”

And if we are grateful for the opportunity to clean up after those we love, we will not be short-tempered with them and we will not do and say foolish things that we will later regret.

Make sense?

How about you? Is your stable clean? Are you even-tempered? Are you grateful for those the Lord has blessed you with.

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