Proverbs 11:1-5. A few proverbs on the different outcomes of righteousness and wickedness. The prideful earn disgrace while the humble earn wisdom. The upright's integrity guides them while the "crookedness of the treacherous destroys them." Riches will not help us in the day of wrath, but righteousness will deliver us from death. "The righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness." 

I've been thinking a lot lately about St.Teresa of Avila's saying that "God writes straight with crooked lines." Father Mike has been saying it a lot too as he goes through some of the awful stories of brokenness in the Old Testament, but then reminds us that Jesus came from this family. So the "straight" and "crooked" words in these proverbs struck me today. It is true, of course, that "the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them" and that "the righteousness of the blameless keeps his way straight." But we have to remember that as long as we are here, as long as our "day of wrath" has not yet come, we can change. Our future is not dictated by our past because we have been saved, we have been given a way out by the creator of the universe!

So while our sin and our misdeeds always do cause suffering, if we accept that suffering for what it is - a chance to see the harmful results of our wickedness, we can use it to change our future. We can amend our ways and walk in the paths that he has made straight for us. God not only writes straight with crooked lines, he helps us straighten our crooked lines. He wants to, he loves straightening things out and guiding us home!