The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7 NIV
The Beginning
By the 1763 Treaty of Paris, all of eastern North America except Saint-Pierre and Miquelon became British. Britain established governments for Nova Scotia (which included present-day New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island), Newfoundland (which included Labrador, Île d’Anticosti, Îles de la Madeleine), and Québec (lower St Lawrence watershed). All other territory was assigned to the Crown or to the Hudson Bay Company. In 1769, St John’s Island (Prince Edward Island) was administratively separated from Nova Scotia, and in 1774, Québec was enlarged to include Île d’Anticosti, Îles de la Madeleine and the land southwest between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
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Happy Labour Day. This is the earliest this holiday can possibly be – it is always the first Monday in September, and today is also the first day of September – the first day, also, of meteorological Fall. Summer is officially over for your local weatherman, and with school starting tomorrow for most Canadians, summer has come to an end for us, too. The Bible speaks often of beginnings. Right at the start of the book of Proverbs, King Solomon writes, in verse 7 of chapter 1: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” As the new school year begins, so should there be a fresh commitment for each of us to start our education with a good sense of God’s awesome power and presence. Solomon says it is foolish to not do so. Parents, as your children return to school, teach them to seek God first. Jesus needs to be Lord over their schoolwork, their school friends, and their school activities. Before they seek any other knowledge, they should first and foremost seek the Lord.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley