how to get up!

You gotta love proverbs...they sound so "do this" and "do that"...but they are so wise...like today's lesson!
Proverbs 15:10-12 and 14-17 together in one! (The Message)
 ¹⁰ It's a school of hard knocks for those who leave God's path,
   a dead-end street for those who hate God's rules.
 ¹¹ Even hell holds no secrets from God—
   do you think he can't read human hearts?
 ¹² Know-it-alls don't like being told what to do;
   they avoid the company of wise men and women.
¹⁴ An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth;
   fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies.
¹⁵ A miserable heart means a miserable life;
   a cheerful heart fills the day with song.
¹⁶ A simple life in the Fear-of-God
   is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches.
 ¹⁷ Better a bread crust shared in love
   than a slab of prime rib served in hate.

The school of hard knocks...we've all been there...because of the knocks we get in life we learn lessons...the hard way...Success is easy...we all want to succeed and many times we do and in the process forget how we got to this pinnacle of success...we glow, we strut, we bask in the glory.  It is the failures that are hard to take...those hard knocks...and we've all had them and we all know them...those times you get knocked flat on your face.  You think everything is good...you are cruising along...and wham!  You fail and EVERYONE knows it...you can't hide it as much as you want.  I failed at a marriage...I got knocked down...but you know what.
I got lifted up...God picked me up...dusted me off and taught me a thing or two...gave me a swift kick...maybe not the way I would have prefered but he had my attention...and through this...I found what I was made of...I found what my faith and my relationship with God was made of...and it is strong stuff! I don't want that miserable heart that makes a miserable life...I've been given a cheerful heart filling the day with song!!  What a joy....Have you ever noticed, too...to go up, to be lifted up...we have to be down and down low...failure...that brings a success that is joyful...a success that is peaceful and humbling...you know where it came from and you know who gets the glory....and it isn't you!
Think about being in a role of leadership and what you learn from those hard knocks...those failures...you've learned how to help others succeed.  You learn how to help your fellow life traveler in his or her hour of hard knocks...you know what to say, how to react, how not to judge, how to share and how to nudge.
God is good all the time and all the time...God is good!