Wednesday, November 19: Ecclesiastes 10- Beware folly.

 

Today’s chapter reads like Proverbs with short pity sayings on wide ranging topics. I chose verse 1 to ponder.

As dead flies give perfume a bad smell, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.

The image was so graphic it grabbed me. I’ve never known the specific situation, flies in perfume, but I have found any number of mice who have died but not been found for ‘awhile.’ It is the smell that first alerted me something was wrong. And that is the point. The rotting flies spoil the perfume.

What got me is the small amount needed to spoil the larger amount. As the writer says, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. One foolish outburst, one foolish decision can tarnish an entire legacy.

I spoke with my mom the other day. She recently went on an outing to The Billy Graham Museum near Charlotte, NC. It was a wonderful trip. We got talking about Billy. What a man of integrity. He rubbed shoulders with US presidents and world leaders in politics and in religion. Amazing. Yet all that hob-knobbing with elite of the world never changed him. No scandals or even ‘indiscretions’ have ever come to light. He lived this verse. He was a man of integrity.

Billy understood that a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor and a little folly can easily ruin a legacy.

Today’s reading, and particularly verse 1, gave me renewed vigor to be vigilant against folly in my life! How about you?

Lord, I know Dr. Graham wasn’t perfect, but he was wise and cautious and he avoided folly at every turn. I pray, Lord, for the strength, the internal fortitude and will to live rightly so that Your name is honored in my living all the days of my life. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.