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Do Not Spend Your Strength

            Do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings. (Proverbs 31:3)

Some time ago, I wrote about the more famous section of Proverbs 31, and pointed out that while it was advice given a son who happened to be king, it could easily be advice of a father or mother to a daughter.  It is advice from a Father who is King, to sons and daughters who are princes and princesses.

Also some time ago, I wrote about the idea of vampires, those people, places, and things that suck the life out of you. They may make promises, but they bleed you dry.

Translated, then, the verse may be read “Do not spend your strength on men/women, your vigor on those/that who/which ruin princes/princesses. My first thought was that right now, there are no men on whom I feel tempted to spend my strength or vigor. In fact, it seems to me that one of my challenges is a fear of spending strength or vigor in, with, on, or for anything that involves people. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things on which I am spending my strength and vigor that I shouldn’t. That’s a matter of prayer, which brings us back to WDA.

          What are the vampires in my life? In yours? One suggestion toward answering this question is to audit our lives. Where does our money go? On what do we spend time? When we worry, what do we worry about? What do we feel stressed about? And if we remember that we are children of the King, what interferes with our doing what princes and princesses of the Kingdom should do? I suspect that we are the greatest vampires we face.

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