Tuesday morning → one verse → one leadership thought → one question: What will you do differently?
Proverbs 1:4 — Paying Attention to What Might Happen Next
“To give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.”
MY STORY —
Years ago, not long after our daughter was born, my wife was staying home to look after her. I came home from work one evening after a busy day and my wife was feeling stressed after being with our daughter all day. Without thinking — and, looking back, rather immaturely — I wondered what the problem was. After all, she had “only” been looking after our daughter. The conversation that followed doesn’t need to be recorded in full! But somewhere along the way I offered to stay home and look after our daughter myself. I think part of me genuinely believed I was about to demonstrate how straightforward this really was.
Pride does have a wonderful way of arranging its own education.
So there I was at home, working on my laptop while our daughter played outside. Every minute or so I would glance through the window to make sure everything was okay. Then she ran past the window wearing a black T-shirt. I remember thinking, Wait a minute. I don’t think she owns a black T-shirt. She didn’t. I went outside and discovered my little darling underneath the car, with her arm up the exhaust pipe, happily rubbing black soot all over herself.
I learned at least two things that day. First, listen to your wife. Second, if you’re with your children, enter their world and get lost there. Don’t sit in your world watching theirs. And perhaps Proverbs adds a third: There is a considerable difference between thinking you know what you’re doing and knowing what you’re doing.
KNOWLEDGE — One word worth knowing
The word I want to notice is “prudence.” In Hebrew: עָרְמָה — ʿormâ — prudence, shrewdness, craftiness. And in the Greek Septuagint: πανουργία — panourgía — shrewdness, astuteness, practical cleverness.
Interestingly, both words can describe a capacity that can be used well or badly. The Hebrew word can carry the sense of prudence but also cunning. The Greek word can similarly describe astuteness or craftiness. In Proverbs 1:4, however, that capacity is being given to the inexperienced so they are not easily taken in.
That makes prudence much more interesting than simply being cautious. Prudence notices what is happening now, thinks about what could happen next and adjusts accordingly. I was checking the garden. I was looking through the window. I could see my daughter. What I hadn’t done was properly anticipate what a small child might actually do while her father was concentrating on his laptop.
Prudence sees beyond what is happening now to what could happen next.
UNDERSTANDING — Seeing it through Strengths
Gallup Strength: Strategic
Strategic naturally looks for possible pathways forward. Faced with a situation, it begins sorting through alternatives: We could do this. We could try that. If this happens, there’s another way. That ability can be enormously valuable. But my black-T-shirt experience exposes a potential blind spot. I had a strategy. I would work on my laptop and glance through the window every minute or so. There was only one small problem:
My daughter hadn’t read the strategy.
That’s funny when I look back on it, but there’s something serious underneath it. Strategic can become so confident in the route it has selected that it stops paying attention to what is actually happening around it. The best strategy isn’t necessarily the cleverest plan. Sometimes it’s the ability to notice quickly that reality has changed and the plan needs to change with it.
Strategic sees possible pathways. Prudence keeps checking whether reality is following the pathway we expected.
WISDOM — Turning insight into action
Covey: Habit 3 — Put First Things First
The problem that day wasn’t that I wasn’t watching my daughter. I was. The problem was that watching my daughter wasn’t the main thing I was doing.
I was working and checking on her. There’s a difference. Habit 3 asks me to decide what matters most and then organise my attention around it. That becomes increasingly difficult in a world where we can physically be in one place while our attention is somewhere completely different. We can be in a meeting while answering emails. We can be listening to someone while preparing what we’re going to say next. We can be sitting with our family while living inside our phone. And we can be looking after our daughter while working on a laptop. My lesson from that day has stayed with me:
If you’re with your children, enter their world and get lost there. Don’t sit in your world watching theirs.
The same principle travels surprisingly well into leadership, coaching, marriage and friendship. Presence isn’t simply being there. It’s deciding what gets my attention while I’m there.
New Testament Connection — Ephesians 5:15–16
Proverbs 1:4 is about learning to see what might happen next. Paul echoes this: “Be very careful, then, how you live… as wise.” Wisdom looks beyond the immediate choice and considers where that choice might lead.
Reflection: If I keep making this choice, where is it likely to take me?
Wisdom doesn’t just ask, “Can I?” It asks, “Where will this lead?”
REFLECTION —
- Where are you assuming something is under control because you occasionally check on it?
- What are you currently doing at the same time as something that deserves your full attention?
- Where has previous experience made you overconfident?
- What might be happening just outside your field of vision?
- Who needs you to enter their world rather than observe it from yours?
What will you do differently?
Prudence isn’t living anxiously, constantly imagining everything that could go wrong. It is being sufficiently present to notice what is happening, sufficiently thoughtful to anticipate what might happen next, and sufficiently flexible to change course when necessary. Sometimes wisdom is very practical. Sometimes it’s putting down the laptop. And sometimes it’s noticing that your daughter doesn’t actually own a black T-shirt.
Prudence isn’t worrying about what might happen. It’s paying enough attention to recognise what could happen.
THE VERSE FOCUS
Proverbs continues to build its picture of a wise life:
Proverbs 1:1 — IDENTITY
Do I know who I am and where I belong?
Proverbs 1:2 — TEACHABILITY
Now that I know who I am, am I still willing to be taught?
Proverbs 1:3 — DISCERNMENT
Am I seeing clearly enough to act wisely?
Proverbs 1:4 — PRUDENCE
Am I paying enough attention now to anticipate what might happen next?
Identity gives me somewhere to stand. Teachability keeps me growing. Discernment helps me see clearly. Prudence helps me think ahead.