Proverbs 8 and Mom's Banana Bread

I try my best to read one chapter of Proverbs a day corresponding with the day of the month.  Most months it works perfectly because there are 31 chapters in Proverbs and 31 days in most months.  I have come to realize I will never grow out of learning and heeding wisdom [insert: sarcasm. I did not just come to realize that].

[Rabbit Trail: bad part about writing and/or blogs is that sarcasm is hard to notice and I tend to be sarcastic time to time. Sorry, I am not sorry]

Sometimes, I read the one chapter of Proverbs in addition to what I am studying and/or reading for my quiet time.  Other times, that chapter is solely my quiet time.  Let's get real, Proverbs is all about wisdom and instruction and I tend to mess up.....[like everyday]......so it's good for me just sit, pray, and meditate on it, because it tends to slap me in the face, encourage me, and/or challenge me.

I read Proverbs 8 today.  There was section that I wanted to share:

The first person in this passage is 'wisdom'.  After I read this, I noticed that these [words I underlined] are identifiable characteristics of wisdom.  When we are looking for wisdom or asking for wisdom, these are characteristics that we can look for in a decision, an action, a conversation, our words, and the list could go on.

Wisdom......speaks noble things, it will reveal right things, only truth will be uttered, wickedness is an abomination to it, righteousness comes from it's mouth, and there is nothing crooked or perverted that comes from it.  Therefore, Proverbs 8 shows us what wisdom IS and what it IS NOT.  Identify those characteristics.  How sweet is the Lord to give us His Word to guide us?

Side Note: I am sure that I have read this passage many times, and yet the Lord teaches me something new about it.  I love that He continues to teach us new things with the same passage.


This is the recipe my mom gave me and it is perfect banana bread.  She would probably say "oh honey, I just got it from this book", because she is humble. However, I would like to think that it's my mom's own recipe because it is so good.  She is an excellent cook anyways, so I wouldn't be surprised if she made it up.

Also, this was originally titled...*ahem* ...."Moist Banana Bread".  My mom knowing that I have issues with that "M" word, sent me the recipe and titled it "Not Dry Banana Bread".  She is too funny.  For the record, I am getting better with the word m..oii..sst, thanks to nursing.  Unfortunately that word is used to describe certain things (I will spare you the details) and so I am having to suck it up and utter that word.  Okay, enough rambling.

Mom's Banana Bread

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup sugar (my mom and I only use 1/2 cup & you can not tell the difference. Better to cut that sugar!)
2 eggs, beaten
3 large or 4 small bananas (better for them to be old and dark-save the ones you wouldn't eat by themselves)
1 cup sifted flour (doesn't have to be sifted)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease bread pan. Combine flour, salt, and soda in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar thoroughly.  Add eggs and vanilla to it and cream until smooth. Stir in bananas - let them get a little mushed up. [This is why you want older bananas, if not there will be clumps of banana which is not what you want for bread]. Add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture. Fold in nuts (optional). Pour into pan.  Bake for 1 hour. Check for doneness before 1 hour if the fragrance of banana bread is strong.  Makes 1 loaf.