July 8, 2025

Proverbs 1:8-14  (HCSB)
Avoid the Path of the Violent
8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction,
and don’t reject your mother’s teaching,
9 for they will be a garland of grace on your head
and a gold chain around your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
don’t be persuaded. 
11 If they say—“Come with us!
Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. 
Let’s attack some innocent person just for fun! 
12 Let’s swallow them alive, like Sheol, still healthy as they go down to the Pit.
13 We’ll find all kinds of valuable property
and fill our houses with plunder.
14 Throw in your lot with us,
and we’ll all share our money”

Falicia Johnson
In this season of my life, I am in full-fledged motherhood, homeschooling 10-year-old boy/girl twins. So, in verse 8 when it says, "your mother's teachings," it really struck a chord in my heart. This verse gave me much hope and reminded me of the important work that we do as parents and grandparents. Take a moment and think about the instructions your parents, or a parent figure in your life, have passed on to you. An instruction that my father left to me was his famous quote, "if you want it, go get it. If you didn't get it, you didn't want it." This philosophy has helped me to push through some very hard circumstances. It reminds me often that with God's strength I can do hard things. It also helps me to focus on what I am really trying to achieve.
A teaching that my mother passed on to me was the joy of living in small spaces. In the first part of my parents’ marriage, my father owned a construction company, and he wanted to build my mother the most grandiose home. But she wanted a single-story home no more than 2000 ft². Her philosophy was that a smaller home is easier to take care of.  She could hear her children from anywhere in the house, and there were no hiding places. When there was tension or problems, there was nowhere to hide, and it forced you to work out the issue faster. These are just two instructions/teachings that my parents instilled in me. Even though my parents are no longer with me here on earth, I still feel like a part of them is with me everyday as I carry out what they have passed on to me.