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VOD - Proverbs 21:21

"Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor." - Proverbs 21:21

So how do we pursue righteousness?  It is defined as the quality of being righteous, meeting the standards of morality and justice, and being virtuous.  My pursuit of righteousness begins by starting each day reading God's word, praying, and trying to grow closer to him.  Learning more about his word, and having a closer relationship with Him will lead us on a path of righteousness.

The pursuit of love is one that we may not want to admit its direction but we cannot ignore.  We will go after what we love, whether it's the right or wrong thing to pursue.  Is our main love and motivation to get more money, wealth and power?  Or is it to spend more time with the people that we love and do acts of kindness for others to show them love?  Try to be more loving today by simply a smile, a word of encouragement, or just being more patient with someone around you.

If we pursue 2 things, God promises us 3...he always gives us more than he asks of us.  We are promised:
- Life, time and moments to spend with those around us. 
- Prosperity, a successful, flourishing condition.  We may typically equate this to financial but take a look around at all the blessings you have, a caring family, a comfortable home, and food on the table.
- Honor, respect, esteem and glory both from God and man.

Britt and I watched a movie Saturday afternoon and it had a husband and father who was struggling with how much time he spent at work versus how much time he spent with his family.  One part that really stuck out to me was the close to the following:
Daughter:  Dad why couldn't we just go to the lake instead of making this stop for work?
Dad:  Honey, I'm trying to give you and your brother everything I never had growing up.
Daughter:  I didn't know you had a bad childhood.
Dad:  I didn't have a bad childhood.
Daughter:  Then what do we need that you didn't have?

That really hit home for me since I'll be adding fatherhood to my resume in a month or so.  While I want to provide everything that my family needs, I pray that I remember that they need my love, more than a nicer house; my affection, more than expensive gifts; and my time, more than a bigger paycheck. 

So as we go out to start this week, what are we pursuing?  I hope that it's righteousness and love.  Thank you Lord for your promises to us.

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