Here are a few helpful things I’ve learned that I am pleased to pass on.

How do you get a speck of dirt or debris out of your eye? Simple! Using the thumb and forefinger of one hand, gently grasp your upper eyelid by the lashes and lift it away from your eyeball. Then with the forefinger of your other hand, gently push the lower eyelid up under the upper, and move it back and forth. This little trick has never failed to get small pieces of junk out of my eye.

Need to know how much daylight you have left in the late afternoon? Here is a quick and easy way to find out. Assuming the sky is clear enough to see the sun, stand facing it and fully extend your arm towards it making an upright fist. The number of fists you can fit between the horizon and the sun is generally the number of hours until it sets.

Have trouble being regular? Just drink at least a couple of full glasses (or more) of warm water and then stand up and slowly stretch your arms into the air as high as you can, lifting your diaphragm as you do so. It works best if you alternate them a few times, slowly reaching as high as you can with one hand and then the other. Like the eye trick, this has never failed to work for me.

The Biblical book of Proverbs is chock-full of such practical wisdom but on a much higher level. The above handy facts can provide temporary help or relief, but the sage counsel available to us in the book of Proverbs provides relief in the here and now and guides us to eternity.

Below is just a sampling:

•    The righteous will receive their desire, but if you are wicked, what you fear will come upon you. - 10:24
•    Humility brings wisdom and the Lord’s blessing, but if you are arrogant, dishonor will follow, the Lord will tear down your house, you will stumble to your destruction and have less hope than a fool. - 11:2, 15:25, 16:18 & 26:12
•    Avoid a beautiful woman (or man, I‘m sure) without discretion since such a one is like ring of gold in a pig’s snout. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised. - 11:22 & 31:30
•    Walk with the wise and you will be wise, walk with fools and suffer harm. - 13:20
•    A merciful man is actually doing himself good while one who practices cruelty hurts himself. - 11:17
•    Righteous people are as bold as lions, but the wicked flee when no one is pursuing them. - 28:1

Now this is really helpful stuff to know. So, get that speck out of your eye, now that you know how, and go read the rest of Proverbs.