At the end of your life you will groan, when you flesh and body are spent.  You will say, "How I hated discipline!  How my heart spurned correction!  I would not obey my teachers or listen to my instructors.  I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the whole assembly" (Proverbs 5:11-14).

Generational warfare had plagued the Millers for quite some time, but after a particularly heated exchange at the family dinner table earlier that evening, Chris decided it was finally time to hit the eject button.  Behind the slammed-shut door of his bedroom, he stewed and stewed until he decided to pack a duffel-bag full of his most essential belongings.  As he packed, he replayed the dinner conversation over and over in his mind.

"I am your father... I am your father..." the line had been repeated so many times that it started to lose meaning with each reiteration.

"So what?!?" Chris thought.  "I am your son!  Can't you keep your mind open enough to realize that there might be something better for me than the provincial life that you had as a kid?"  He'd been subjected to his parents' nagging and naysaying for almost 18 years now; finally, it was time for him to strike out on his own.  Chris the Individual.  Chris the Adult.  Chris the Freedom-Fighter.  He grabbed his phone and tapped out a proclamation to his dozens of Twitter followers and Facebook friends:  "Ready or not, here I come!"  Shoving the device into his pocket, he shouldered his duffel-bag and looked out the bedroom window.  He was surprised to see that the first pale streaks of dawn were already starting to appear off in the east.  He decided that he couldn't risk using the hallway, lest he run into his father again, preparing for work.  Chris had resolved to never allow his father to see his face again.  So he opened up his window and crawled out onto the ledge.  It was cold and dark outside.  Chris shivered and looked back for one last gaze upon his childhood bedroom.  Then, taking a deep breath and turning back towards the darkness, he reached for the nearest tree branch and stepped out, severing contact with his parents' home, once and for all.  Climbing down the tree, he found himself born into the new existence that he had always desired.

"Good-bye punishments.  Good-bye 'parental advice.'  Good-bye control-freaks.  Good-bye prison."  He stepped out boldly into his long-anticipated freedom, and immediately his foot snagged on a sprinkler buried within the grass of the front lawn.  He went down hard, landing awkwardly on his right wrist, and soaking himself in cold dew.  He could feel his ankle swelling immediately.  It hurt badly.  But Chris choked back the pain and picked himself up off the ground.  He shivered and limped as he stepped off the curb and out into the street.  He massaged his injured wrist and gritted his teeth as he stopped to consider his direction.  Looking to his left and his right, he decided to travel east, off towards the rapidly approaching dawn.  It was a new day, and he was prepared to seize it.

*     *     *     *     *

Honestly, I'm not sure about how successful this story actually is -- either as an individual piece of fiction, or as a rumination on Proverbs 5:11-14.  But With these particular verses from Proverbs 5, I was struck by its contrast to the contemporary fables that we've created for ourselves -- celebrating open-mindedness and individualism.  We say that it's good to break free from the expectations and conventions forced upon us by others.  We like to think about our culture's "free spirits" as being heroes.  They have significant challenges to overcome, but as long as they "stick to their guns," we like to think that their future is bright.  To me, it seems like this is a common story for our times.  But this contemporary storyline is pretty fundamentally opposed to Proverbs 5:11-14, isn't it?

So I was trying to create a story in which it was confusing to try and figure out who I should be rooting for.  Surely, we've all felt like the Chris character at times in our lives.  And yet, for most of us who would be reading the story from the vantage point of adulthood, it should be pretty obvious that Chris is making his decisions out of immaturity and a lack of preparation for the cruelties of the real world beyond the life that his parents have created for him.  So I'm curious, as you read the above vignette, where did your sympathy lie?  Did you feel a sense of hope and encouragement, or a sense of dread and foreboding?  Or maybe a mixture?  What does that tell you about the difference between contemporary wisdom and the wisdom of the Proverbs?  What does that tell you about yourself?