Throughout the entire Book of Proverbs, commonly known as the Book of Wisdom, God keeps telling all readers, that there are always two choices in everything that you do with the use of your life. This is not a sometimes thing,…it is an all the time type thing. This Law of God as outlined in the Book of Proverbs applies to all people at all times, no matter what the differences or variations in them are.

Now, of course, I would certainly like to think that most people would truly desire to become wiser and smarter with age and experience,…that most people who are not in the world where they would want to be, would like to learn how to advance further along the path to success. I would also like to think that a foolish person would very much like to get smarter as they age and mature and stop doing foolish and unprofitable things with the use of their most valuable resources….wouldn’t you?

Well, of course, it goes without saying that if things are not what you desire them to be in your life, then some type and kind of change is required….right? The same holds true for intelligence. If you desire to be smarter, wiser, and/or achieve more than you are presently achieving,
….then something in your life has to change. The responsibility for effecting such a change(s) lies squarely on your own shoulders. It is all your personal responsibility to make the appropriate changes.

Now if you are a fairly average run-of-the-mill type man or woman, and you know for sure that you are not as smart, wise, or discerning as you would like to be,….then pay very close attention to the advice the Lord always gives to both the foolish man and the wise one in practically every chapter of the Book of Proverbs. In each of the 31 chapters of the Book of Proverbs the continual contrast and its related corrective advice is to both of the men involved in the contrast: The Wise Man and The Fool.

Now if you were a fool or “unlucky” or an “under-achiever” and were always coming up short,…time and time again,…and seldom succeeding at or accumulating much of anything of value, you would think that you should start paying closer attention to God’s advice as to how to become wise and successful. You would think that the one who needs to change the most would be the one who listens the closest to the corrective advice of the Lord.

But, the sad facts are that throughout the Book of Proverbs, the fool doesn’t ever seem to learn anything from the wise man. He consequently just stays the fool and never accomplishes more than the very little which he has today, had yesterday, and will most probably have tomorrow. The oscilloscope of his life is a flat line reading……mentally dead…..as in no movement upward or forward.

I think most of you have heard the old saying, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” I am here to tell you that such a statement is totally accurate. Why?, Because the rich keep doing the things they did to create their wealth and the poor just keep doing the same things that they did to establish their poverty. If things are going to change in your life, you are going to have to become the “agent of change” in your own life by changing first the way you think, which will in fact change the way you speak, which will change the way you act or conduct yourself, which will change the manner and way that you produce your own work effort, which will finally change the results you experience in your life. Make no mistake about it…..if you want to change the results in your life, you have to start by changing the way you think! Said in a slightly different but very similar manner and way…..If nothing changes in your thought processes (in your brain), then nothing will change in your life!

You and you alone are the only one responsible to effect the necessary changes in your own life. Do not try to delegate that personal responsibility to someone else. It is yours alone to effect and employ.

A very interesting side note comes into play from carefully reading through the Book of Proverbs…..The wise man is continually learning from the mistakes and errors made by the fool. The wise man continues to increase his knowledge and understanding of the situations of life and what to do to correct bad scenarios, and situations that continue to arise in his own life. The message to be gleaned from this repeated piece of advice is that to become successful you must never stop learning…to keep the hunger for knowledge and understanding, you must continue to grow….mentally, physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually.

That tidbit of wisdom said in another way is that you must know yourself in order to grow yourself. Now we have come back full circle to our starting point. If you truly do want to become totally successful in your own life, you must have the answers to all four of these most important personal questions before beginning your journey to success:

1. Do you know who you really are?

2. Do you know where you are really going?

3. Do you know how you are really going to get there?

4. Do you know when it is that you will really arrive at your chosen
destination?

You see, friends, when you know precisely who you are and what you are doing with your life and why you are doing it,…then nothing can stop you from completing the mission….from getting the job done.

The late multimillionaire business magnate, Mr. Charles M. Schwab once remarked as to what he considered to be the real secret to his WISE success. Mr. Schwab was relating a brief discussion he personally had with the Great Steel Industrialist, Mr. Andrew Carnegie. The stories picks up as follows:

Mr. Carnegie’s first test, which he applied to all of his associate workers who were under consideration for promotion to supervisory positions, was that of determining “to what extent they were willing to go the extra mile.” His second test was “to determine whether or not they had their minds fixed upon a definite goal, including the necessary preparation for the attainment of that goal.”

Mr. Schwab went on to explain,…“When I asked Mr. Carnegie for my first promotion, he grinned broadly and replied, “If you have your heart fixed on what you want,…there is nothing I can do to stop you from getting it!”

I will close our time together now by asking you a personal question….please think long and hard about your answer before giving it….
What is it that you really want to do with the rest of your life?

The fire pit coals are just right….where are the marsh mellows?
Does anyone know where the hershey bars are?….Hey who took the graham crackers?……. Ain’t camp fires great?

Peace and Love to All of You……………Poppa Bear