Keep vigilant watch over your heart;
that's where life starts.
Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.
Proverbs 4:23-27 (MSG)
Easier said than done, right? Especially when you have to interact with other people on a daily basis! This portion of Proverbs popped up for me and some co-workers at a time a few months back when things happening in our organization felt like a "sideshow distraction" or easily could have become one. In addition when unsettling things happen, no matter where you are at, the mouths start running and without meaning to you find yourself sucked into talking out of both sides of your mouth. I am way way guilty of this. I start off great but the sideshow distracts me from what I know is right and I get sucked in. I'm guessing a few of you out there may be nodding your heads in agreement right now - about me and perhaps about yourselves! :)
What strikes me right away with this proverb is the word "vigilant". I know what it means but I really wanted to KNOW what it means so I looked it up. Check it out:
alertly watchful especially to avoid danger
that's where life starts.
Don't talk out of both sides of your mouth;
avoid careless banter, white lies, and gossip.
Keep your eyes straight ahead;
ignore all sideshow distractions.
Watch your step,
and the road will stretch out smooth before you.
Look neither right nor left;
leave evil in the dust.
Proverbs 4:23-27 (MSG)
Easier said than done, right? Especially when you have to interact with other people on a daily basis! This portion of Proverbs popped up for me and some co-workers at a time a few months back when things happening in our organization felt like a "sideshow distraction" or easily could have become one. In addition when unsettling things happen, no matter where you are at, the mouths start running and without meaning to you find yourself sucked into talking out of both sides of your mouth. I am way way guilty of this. I start off great but the sideshow distracts me from what I know is right and I get sucked in. I'm guessing a few of you out there may be nodding your heads in agreement right now - about me and perhaps about yourselves! :)
What strikes me right away with this proverb is the word "vigilant". I know what it means but I really wanted to KNOW what it means so I looked it up. Check it out:
vig·i·lant
adj \ˈvi-jə-lənt\alertly watchful especially to avoid danger
Synonyms: Argus-eyed, attentive, awake, observant,open-eyed, tenty (also tentie) [Scottish], alert, watchful,wide-awake
Antonyms: asleep
Related Words: alive, aware, conscious, sensitive;cognizant, heedful, keen, mindful, observing, regardful,sharp, sharp-eyed; hyperalert, hypervigilant, sleepless,wakeful; careful, cautious, chary, wary; prepared, ready
Near Antonyms: absent, absentminded, absorbed,abstracted, daydreaming, dazed, distracted, dreaming,dreamy, engrossed, faraway, insensible, oblivious,preoccupied; sleeping, unaware, unconscious, unknowing,unwitting; careless, heedless, inattentive, unheeding,unmindful, unthinking, unwary; unprepared, unready
I'm pretty sure after skimming through the definition and then the synonyms and antonyms there's not much more I need to say. :) The key to the later exhortations on talking and sideshow distractions and traveling the road before you is vigilance. And the above definition/word associations are a clear compass for how to be vigilant.
The conclusion? Simple. Live your life as a vigilante!
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