By Brenda Cannon Henley
Often having heard descriptions of the Book of Proverbs as a “road map of daily living,” “our GPS for life” and “practical wisdom for daily choices,” I have come to respect, revere, and rely on the words found in the 31 chapters. In fact, there is a chapter (some longer – some shorter) for every day of the month. I have further been surprised to find

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Choosing to name this study, WOW, an acronym for Words of Wisdom is the very best clue as to what is covered in these articles. The 31 chapters, one for each day of the month, is a wonderful way to gain an easy, personal grasp of the teachings of this important book of Scripture. Reading the Word of God faithfully each day is somewhat like

By Brenda Cannon Henley
What are we known to offer people when it comes to including or excluding them in our life’s plan? Some folks seem to enjoy being in charge and appearing large. This subject was brought to my attention this past week by two different people. One I know well and one I only know through random conversations based on my writing

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Every single day of our lives we make choices from the time our eyes open and we wake up until we close them again and sleep. We choose to be happy or sad, kind or mean, hurtful or helpful, generous or selfish, intelligent or downright dumb, and the biggie here is not only do our choices affect us, they are a major influence on those with whom

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Having done a good deal of study on the heart the past two weeks, I was rather amazed when a speaker in our morning church service spoke on the human heart. He emphasized in his very good and timely message a Bible truth we have often been reminded of through the years. The heart is centrally important to the manner in which we live our lives every

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Witnessing a conversation that became rather heated a few days ago between two mutual friends has given me pause to think. I know both parties and respect and admire each of them and believe in my heart that they are “good people” willing to help anyone in need. In fact, I have seen acts of kindness and personal sacrifice demonstrated by

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Many years ago now, I studied diligently and taught a series of lessons on the life of Daniel. For a quick recap, let us note that Daniel’s name means “God is my judge,” and he lived his life with that truth in mind. He is considered a prophet in the time of Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus. His wisdom and faith earned him a position of esteem under Nebuchadnezzar

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Man alive, I am in my home state of Georgia, planned on purpose, to be with my much slimmer number of high school (still surviving) classmates as we we celebrated our 61st graduation anniversary on June 2nd. How did it happen? Where did more than half a century go? How did we get here? I asked this pondering question

By Brenda Cannon Henley
I really don’t like it when I suspect someone is being deceitful with me. I dislike it more when I strongly believe that a person is looking me straight in the face and telling a bald face lie. Lies have a tendency to tumble down on each other like a stack of Texas domino’s. Have you noticed that when one untruth is told, there are generally several others

By Brenda Cannon Henley
In my most recent column, I wrote about Elisha, who came into prominence after the translation of his mentor, Elijah. I said that when one takes the time to study the verses, and understand their meaning, the entire scene rivals the screenplay or script of a humorous interaction of characters and that some producer should grab it up and

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Elisha told his servant in Verse 16 of 2 Kings 6, “Don’t be afraid for there are more on our side than on theirs.” (That is a bit of a rough translation. What Elisha actually said is, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.)  The entire meaning of 2 Kings 6 can be broken down into the following:

By Brenda Cannon Henley
I trust that as long as I am healthy enough to write and have the mental facilities to do so, I will be led of the Spirit of God and be willing to write what I honestly believe He puts on my heart rather than to follow trends or causes that would earn me points among my peers. The reason this is on my mind today is that I originally had drafted

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Mother’s often face this challenging question concerning life in general, and in dealing with their children, in particular. I might add quickly that the children I speak of can be tiny infants resting safely in cribs in the nursery, elementary age students, high schoolers, college age semi-adults, or grown men and women out on their

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Many of my Texas friends are aware that my youngest granddaughter, Maya Grace Stancil, has been quite ill, and will be in John Hopkins All Childrens Hospital here in Tampa 17 days today. Maya is six years old and a heart recipient. She got her new heart when she was eight months old. The transplant saved her little life. My son and

By Brenda Cannon Henley
One of the things I have noticed about getting older, and hopefully more mature, is that it doesn’t take the advanced population nearly as long to size up a person. It comes partly from having met and associated with a larger number of people in various situations, growing wiser in our own life, and our perhaps becoming a bit more mellow as we

By Brenda Cannon Henley
My friend, Sandy Roots, and I have several things in common. We are both Christians, and were active preacher’s wives, and our husband’s are now deceased. We are former residents of the Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County located in Southeast Texas. We love our family members and truly enjoy spending time with them. We both enjoy

By Brenda Cannon Henley
The four words out of my Granddaddy Cole’s mouth shocked me to the core and caused me to stop dead in my tracks. I was a young teen six and a half decades ago, and those words still ring in my mind. Having been born at my grandparent’s home and living with them until my mother remarried and took me away to the big city

By Brenda Cannon Henley
I included the short writing by Robert Browning that aptly illustrates the first concept we discussed in the previous two columns about aging gracefully. Several writers and those medical professionals that have given their lives to the study of geriatric matters all seem to concur that having a close friend, a husband or wife, a relative that

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Last week I wrote a column about aging well. We all want to achieve this goal, and especially so, when one considers the alternative. I have received many suggestions and helpful tips about how to grow old gracefully and pleasantly and I have truly enjoyed hearing from our readers on this subject. I have attempted to combine and condense these

By Brenda Cannon Henley
It is a natural process and we should learn to embrace it – the art of aging by grace. As the years go by, and lately, they seem to fly, not crawl, we learn that everything constantly changes, and that includes us as human beings. Tonight, I spent some time looking around in our church service and I caught myself making mental notes about

By Brenda Cannon Henley
We have never lived in days exactly like today. Many feel they are facing uncertain futures and are not sure what decision is most urgent at the moment. Dozens of my friends are battling health issues and some are quite serious. This world has so much going on that folks are feeling confused, embattled, and fearful. Many are asking the question,

By Brenda Cannon Henley
“For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are

By Brenda Cannon Henley
I recently wrote an article on a lack of respect for others and it had a particular bent on honoring our elderly and being certain they know how much we love and admire them. I am not sure that our children, young people, and even older teens, and young career age men and women understand the debt of gratitude we owe those that have gone before

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Something transpired this week that caused me to remember an old Bible story that I taught my class some years ago. I remembered that at the time I taught the Scripture verses, not one student in the class stated that they had heard the lesson in the past. Or, if they had, it did not impress them sufficiently enough for them to commit it to memory. On the other

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Week before last while entertaining four house guests from Tennessee in our home in Florida, we chanced to go on a real adventure. Starting out in mid morning, we drove from the Tampa-St Pete area to the wonderful little town of Tarpon Springs. Best known for its Greek settlers and world famous sponge docks, visitors return time and time again

By Brenda Cannon Henley
People continually amaze me by their own choices and their inability to see beyond their own nose.
“Don’t walk open eyed into a terrible mistake. If God is giving you direction and encouragement, be willing to accept it. Otherwise, you’ll be picking up the keys to Heartbreak Hotel over and over again.”

By Brenda Cannon Henley
If one has written for any number of years for the general public, and touched on many topics, it becomes rather normal to expect criticism from time to time. Some readers seem to be just spoiling for a fight, and I have come to believe they are not even really aggravated with a particular writing or point being taken. They are just frustrated and are

By Brenda Cannon Henley
The simple definition of greed as stated by Merriam – Webster…”A selfish and excessive desire for more of something (such as money) than is needed motivated by naked ambition and greed.”
A further definition of greed goes on to add, “Intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth,