Proverbs 2:17 · World English Bible
Proverbs 2:17 Meaning Who Forsakes the Friend of Her Youth
who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God;
What does Proverbs 2:17 mean?
Behind every seductive thought lies a small forgetting, and this is its whole power. The mind that follows the flattering voice has first turned from the gentle Teacher it knew at the beginning, the guide it trusted before it learned to be afraid, and has let slip the memory of the bond that always joined it to its Source.
From the Christian Psychology reading below.
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The same verse, read by one tradition.
Christian Psychology
CHRISTIAN PSYCHOLOGY
Christian Psychology
Behind every seductive thought lies a small forgetting, and this is its whole power. The mind that follows the flattering voice has first turned from the gentle Teacher it knew at the beginning, the guide it trusted before it learned to be afraid, and has let slip the memory of the bond that always joined it to its Source.
Nothing was truly broken in that turning; only overlooked. And what was forgotten can be remembered. The moment a mind grows still and asks to recall the One it left, the ancient bond is found unbroken, and it sees it never really went away.
Guide of her youth: the gentle Teacher the mind knew before it learned fear, the innocence it trusted at the start. Covenant of her God: the bond joining the mind to its Source, the connection that only seems lost when it is forgotten.
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Live Proverbs 2:17 today
- Sometime today, before you open your phone, sit for one minute and let yourself remember a time you felt completely at ease. Not to analyze it, just to be near it again.
- Call or message someone you drifted from for no real reason. Say you were thinking about them. Nothing was broken, it just went quiet.
- When the day speeds up and you feel scattered, put both feet on the floor and take one slow breath. You are not getting somewhere new, you are coming back.
What did I know about myself as a kid that I have simply stopped recalling?
The same truth in other traditions
Hinduism · Upanishads
The self was never lost, only covered over, like a face forgotten behind a dusty mirror. Knowing is not getting something new, it is remembering.
Zen
The ox was never missing. The whole search ends when you see you were riding it while you looked.
Sufism · Rumi
The reed cries because it remembers the reed bed. That ache is not loss, it is the bond still pulling.
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