• "Show me who your friends are and I'll know who you are."
• "Don't spend more than you earn."
• "Be grateful for what you have."
• "Do your duty - even if there is no reward."
• "Doing the right thing may be hard, but it's easier than the alternative."
• "Always wear lipstick.  It will make you feel better."
• "Anything worth having is worth working for."
• "Always wear clean underwear."
• "It's not just what you say but how you say it."
• "Life isn't fair.  Get over it."
• "Always ook out for the underdog."

Every heard any of these words of advice before? Like maybe from your mom?

Moms and advice seem to go together.  That's what moms are for (among other things).  They try to steer us in the right direction.  They try to counsel us for succes.

The above are quotes from people sharing their mom's advice to them.  In the last chapter of Proverbs we experience this very same thing; we get to listen in as a mom gives her son advice.  The son is King Lemuel, the writer of this chapter, and we really don't know much about him.  Except he evidently listened to mom.  And then shared some of the lessons that his mother had taught him, including this one:

31:8,9  Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

That's pretty good advice!  

Read Proverbs 31

The last piece of advice in the list above - the one about looking out for the underdog - that's advice that I got from my mom.  All the time.  (Maybe she knew Lemuel's mom.)

There is a lot of injustice in our world.  There are a lot of people who have been taken advantage of by others. There are a lot of people who have been mistreated and marginalized and disrespected and trampled on.  It's not that hard to see.

What's harder to do is to speak.  To speak up and speak out.  But that's what we should be doing.  Where are you seeing injustice in our world?  Do you care enough to speak up?  Better yet, do you care enough to do something about it.  The world is full of people who need help.  Will you help?

Today's wisdom:

Always look out for the underdog.

Brent Wood