FEELING LIKE A "HEEL"?

It is probably 80 % of the time that if you feel like a "heel" it's because of the tongue.  (The other 20% because of what you do.)

I was sharing with someone recently of some of the discipline I received in grade school.  Only paddled once but wrote a lot of "I will not _____" sentences.  It was in my last day at Junior High School I was sitting in the school auditorium, after class, writing "I will not ________ ______________ __________" some 200 times.  I am too embarrassed to tell what I did but rest assure today I still feel like a heel for doing such a foolish thing.

My dad, being the religious man that he was, tried to correct this "foolishness" by using what Proverbs 22:15 says, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."   It is true that it did drive it "far from me" but every once in a while I still do a foolish thing.  Sometimes doing a foolish thing is simply saying the wrong thing, or as we call it, "putting our foot in our mouth."  Psalm 38:5 says, "My wounds sink and are corrupt because of my foolishness."

I believe "foolishness" is something that probably many of us have to work on.  I enjoy "good clean fun" as we call it, but sometimes even I can take my "foolishness" too far.  So now that I have confessed, here's my prayer:

"God help me with my foolishness.  You know that in your word it says that this is something 'bound in the heart of a child.' True, my daddy tried to drive it out of me with leather but because of my tongue I still struggle and sometimes feel like a heel.  God, save my soul (and sole) from so much foolishness!"

I usually go to the shoe repair shop in the small community in which I live to have my shoe's resole and the owner of the shoe shop will laugh and say, "Yes Sir, I can save your sole!"   So off to the shoe shop!