Understanding

Understanding

Today’s Scripture Selection: Proverbs 3:5

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Everyone wants to understand.

We want to understand the events of our lives – good and bad.

We want to understand our purpose and our calling.

We want to understand others.

We want to understand ourselves.

We want to understand so much.

And scripture tells us how to arrive at that often elusive understanding.  It’s by trusting God with all your heart.

The deepest understanding is more than an intellectual process.

It is found in relationship – with others – and with God.

So once again, the book of Proverbs, in a few simple words, touches on some very profound wisdom and how to obtain it.
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.”

How different that advice is from what our world often offers.

It may not always be easy to do.  But creating a life worth living rarely is.

Prayer: Lord, open my mind and open my heart – that your Spirit may guide me to true wisdom.  AMEN.

By Paul Simrell

The Reverend Paul W. Simrell has served for over thirty years in a variety of congregational and institutional settings. He is a recognized minister with standing in the Virginia region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada and is nationally endorsed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for specialized ministry in both pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Ordained in 1982, he has served congregations in Kentucky, Texas, Florida, and Virginia. He currently serves as the pastor of Elpis Christian Church, a small, historic congregation located just a few miles west of Richmond, Virginia. Elpis is the Greek word meaning “expectant hope.” He also serves on the associate clinical staff of the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care, Richmond, Virginia, both as a pastoral counselor and a ministerial assessment specialist, specializing in executive, clergy and relationship coaching. He is a graduate of the University of Florida and Lexington Theological Seminary and has done advanced clinical training in chaplaincy and pastoral counseling at the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, Children’s Medical Center and Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas and the Virginia Institute of Pastoral Care in Richmond, Virginia. He is a Certified Pastoral Counselor, an ACPE Practitioner, and a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors. He is a Certified Facilitator of the Prepare-Enrich relationship assessment and skills-building program and served as a volunteer chaplain for over twenty years with the CJW Medical Center campuses in Richmond, Virginia. His avocational interests include playing the piano and drawing. He is very happily married to his wife Elizabeth Yeamans Simrell, a free-lance writer, who is also a Certified Facilitator for the Prepare-Enrich program. Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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