“How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver” (Proverbs 16:16).

In my first post of 2019, I confessed to being terrible at keeping new year’s resolutions. So instead of committing myself to self-improvement tasks, I looked to the book of Proverbs for specific instructions on how a person practices godly wisdom. Read that blog post here. Now that the year is more than half over, it’s time to expand my original list of 10 practices (found in the first 12 chapters of Proverbs) to include the rest of the book. Here’s some additional nuggets I’ve found:

1. Accept good advice from others (13:13; 15:22).
2. Choose wise people to be my closest friends (13:20).
3. Be kind to my neighbors (14:21).
4. De-escalate contentious conversations by giving gentle responses (15:1,18).
5. Celebrate my grandchildren as beautiful gifts (17:6).
6. Leave revenge up to God (20:22; 24:29).
7. Do not exploit the poor (22:22).
8. Respect boundaries (22:28; 23:10).
9. Don’t presume to sit at the head table (25:6, 27:2).
10. Confess my sins to God and others (28:13).

Does any of this wise advice speak to you in your season of life? I recently turned 60, and reading the verses about family and relationships are especially poignant to me. My list of 10 practices won’t necessarily be the list most helpful to you. Read Proverbs for yourself and ask God to guide you to your own Top Ten. Share them with me. I’d love to hear from you.

Next blog post: Proverbs 31.