OH, SOLOMON
Today's reading:  Proverbs 29-30

"There are three things that amaze me--no, four things I do not understand:  how an eagle glides through the air, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman."  Proverbs 30:18-19 NLT

Dear King Solomon,

The same things stump me as well, and yet I am not, nor will ever be declared the 'wisest on Earth' as you have been.

I greatly admire your work.  Your topics are down to earth yet you call us to look at most of them with eternal value, not on a day-to-day scale.

The problem I have is how in the world you were able to limit your writing to just four amazing things.  Did your scribes get hand cramps at this point?  Did your 'editor' limit you to a certain number of words?  I scratch my head wondering how sheltered a life you lived not to mention a few mind-boggling sights...

-a dandelion growing through a crack in the sidewalk.  Okay, maybe you didn't have sidewalks back then and if you did, your palace gardener probably made short work of any and all weeds.  Their persistence amazes me.

-a newborn baby.  Surely, even in the age you reigned, where men didn't have many dealings with small children, you saw one of your own.  To see their tiny fingers.  To smell the unmistakable smell of baby.  To see their rosebud lips.  Their creation, their arrival, their intricacies amaze me.

-the sunrise.  Were you a late sleeper, King?  Did your business dealings occur later in the day?  Did you ever see the water colored masterpiece of a sunrise--it's oranges, it's reds, it's yellows?  Few things more amazing!

-the Savior's love.  I will give you that one.  You were born too early.  Sure, you spoke with God and He granted your wish (wisdom), but you lived decades before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  Years before the Bible (or at least the Jesus-part) was written.  Eons before one could know, personally know, the Messiah.  They've even written a song that comes as close as any other to explaining it--Amazing Grace.

You are right about the eagle, the snake, the sailing ships and love--but dear King, you missed out on a few amazing things, mostly Christ.

Sincerely,
An Avid Fan