Tag: Wisdom

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Heard coming out my mouth

Things I heard coming out my mouth today that made me pause.

To a kindergartener whose hands seem to search out, touch, move and poke everything. This time he pressed a button on the PA system mic and was breathing heavy (a la Dark Vader) to the whole school:

Is this yours? Does it belong to you? Why are you touching things that aren’t yours?

Unfortunately, the mic was still on while I asked him these questions and entertained the whole school with my strident tone.

To a 2nd grader who said she wanted to be the new girl’s best friend but another classmate was being mean to her and blocking her blessing (paraphrased):

You can be friends with her even if someone else wants to be her friend. That’s okay. Just be a good friend and expect others be a good friend to you.

To a 4th grader who has more anxiety than everyone I’ve ever known combined:

Her: They were calling me fat. I want mom to bring me new clothes.
Me: Did you like your outfit before they called you names?
Her: Yes.
Me: What do I always tell you?
Her: Ignore them.
Me: If you like what you’re wearing, it doesn’t matter what others think. Tell them to be quiet and mind their business.

To every child that comes to me with an injury, problem, or complaint:

So what you wanna do?

A couple of weeks ago a K5er, came into the office three days in a row with different ailments in an attempt to go home. On the third day, he claimed his wrist was broken while waving it in my face and insisting I call his mom. Humoring him, I asked, if I call mom, what are you going to say?

With the cheekiest grin, he put his hands on the arm of my chair and began jumping in my face. “I’m gonna ask her what she wanna do!”

A+ for listening, dear boy. ♥️

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All Is Meaningless (ACAD: Ecclesiastes 11)

Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back. Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth. When clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap.

Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.

In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

Even those who live many years should rejoice in them all; yet let them remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Follow the inclination of your heart and the desire of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

Banish anxiety from your mind, and put away pain from your body; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-10 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Ecclesiastes%2011:1-10&version=NRSV

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All Is Meaningless (ACAD: Ecclesiastes 10)

Dead flies make the perfumer’s ointment give off a foul odor; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of a fool to the left. Even when fools walk on the road, they lack sense, and show to everyone that they are fools. If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your post, for calmness will undo great offenses.

There is an evil that I have seen under the sun, as great an error as if it proceeded from the ruler: folly is set in many high places, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen slaves on horseback, and princes walking on foot like slaves.

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it; and whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a snake. Whoever quarries stones will be hurt by them; and whoever splits logs will be endangered by them. If the iron is blunt, and one does not whet the edge, then more strength must be exerted; but wisdom helps one to succeed. If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no advantage in a charmer.

Words spoken by the wise bring them favor, but the lips of fools consume them. The words of their mouths begin in foolishness, and their talk ends in wicked madness; yet fools talk on and on. No one knows what is to happen, and who can tell anyone what the future holds? The toil of fools wears them out, for they do not even know the way to town.

Alas for you, O land, when your king is a servant, and your princes feast in the morning! Happy are you, O land, when your king is a nobleman, and your princes feast at the proper time— for strength, and not for drunkenness! Through sloth the roof sinks in, and through indolence the house leaks. Feasts are made for laughter; wine gladdens life, and money meets every need. Do not curse the king, even in your thoughts, or curse the rich, even in your bedroom; for a bird of the air may carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.

Ecclesiastes 10:1-20 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Ecclesiastes%2010:1-20&version=NRSV

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All Is Meaningless (ACAD: Ecclesiastes 9)

All this I laid to heart, examining it all, how the righteous and the wise and their deeds are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hate one does not know. Everything that confronts them is vanity, since the same fate comes to all, to the righteous and the wicked, to the good and the evil, to the clean and the unclean, to those who sacrifice and those who do not sacrifice. As are the good, so are the sinners; those who swear are like those who shun an oath. This is an evil in all that happens under the sun, that the same fate comes to everyone. Moreover, the hearts of all are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead. But whoever is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no more reward, and even the memory of them is lost. Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished; never again will they have any share in all that happens under the sun.

Go, eat your bread with enjoyment, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has long ago approved what you do. Let your garments always be white; do not let oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that are given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do with your might; for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all. For no one can anticipate the time of disaster. Like fish taken in a cruel net, and like birds caught in a snare, so mortals are snared at a time of calamity, when it suddenly falls upon them.

I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. So I said, “Wisdom is better than might; yet the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heeded.”

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one bungler destroys much good.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-18 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Ecclesiastes%209:1-18&version=NRSV

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All Is Meaningless (ACAD: Ecclesiastes 2)

I said to myself, “Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But again, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, until I might see what was good for mortals to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces; I got singers, both men and women, and delights of the flesh, and many concubines.

So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; also my wisdom remained with me. Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

So I turned to consider wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the one do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done. Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

The wise have eyes in their head, but fools walk in darkness.

Yet I perceived that the same fate befalls all of them. Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me —and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Source: Ecclesiastes 2:1-26 – https://www.biblegateway.com/passage?search=Ecclesiastes%202:1-26&version=NRSV

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ACAD – In God’s Hands: Job 12

Job Replies: I Am a Laughingstock

Then Job answered:

“No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.
Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,[a]
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.
The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.[b]

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
ask the plants of the earth,[c] and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.
Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?

“With God[d] are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.
If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
He leads counselors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
and takes away the discernment of the elders.
He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
and brings deep darkness to light.
He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
He strips understanding from the leaders[e] of the earth,
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

Footnotes:

  1. Job 12:5 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. Job 12:6 Or whom God brought forth by his hand; Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth
  4. Job 12:13 Heb him
  5. Job 12:24 Heb adds of the people

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Prince on Larry King: Sharing Hope and Wisdom

This is truly a phenomenal interview. I’ve never viewed Prince as a particularly spiritually-minded individual, but he very clearly knew his Source and Provider. It’s very interesting to listen to how he processed and manifested his belief and balanced it with a demanding public image.

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ACAD – Injustice: Job 5

“Call if you want to, Job, but no one will answer you.
    You can’t turn to any of the holy ones.
Anger kills the fool,
    and jealousy slays the stupid.
I have seen a fool succeed,
    but I cursed his home immediately.
His children are far from safety
    and are crushed in court with no defense.
The hungry eat his harvest,
    even taking what grew among the thorns,
    and thirsty people want his wealth.
Hard times do not come up from the ground,
    and trouble does not grow from the earth.
People produce trouble
    as surely as sparks fly upward.

“But if I were you, I would call on God
    and bring my problem before him.
God does wonders that cannot be understood;
    he does so many miracles they cannot be counted.
He gives rain to the earth
    and sends water on the fields.
He makes the humble person important
    and lifts the sad to places of safety.
He ruins the plans of those who trick others
    so they have no success.
He catches the wise in their own clever traps
    and sweeps away the plans of those who try to trick others.
Darkness covers them up in the daytime;
    even at noon they feel around in the dark.
God saves the needy from their lies
    and from the harm done by powerful people.
So the poor have hope,
    while those who are unfair are silenced.

“The one whom God corrects is happy,
    so do not hate being corrected by the Almighty.
God hurts, but he also bandages up;
    he injures, but his hands also heal.
He will save you from six troubles;
    even seven troubles will not harm you.
God will buy you back from death in times of hunger,
    and in battle he will save you from the sword.
You will be protected from the tongue that strikes like a whip,
    and you will not be afraid when destruction comes.
You will laugh at destruction and hunger,
    and you will not fear the wild animals,
because you will have an agreement with the stones in the field,
    and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is safe,
    because you will check the things you own and find nothing missing.
You will know that you will have many children,
    and your descendants will be like the grass on the earth.
You will come to the grave with all your strength,
    like bundles of grain gathered at the right time.

“We have checked this, and it is true,
    so hear it and decide what it means to you.”

New Century Version (NCV)The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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ACAD – Injustice: Proverbs 13

Wise children take their parents’ advice,
    but whoever makes fun of wisdom won’t listen to correction.

People will be rewarded for what they say,
    but those who can’t be trusted want only violence.

Those who are careful about what they say protect their lives,
    but whoever speaks without thinking will be ruined.

The lazy will not get what they want,
    but those who work hard will.

Good people hate what is false,
    but the wicked do shameful and disgraceful things.

Doing what is right protects the honest person,
    but doing evil ruins the sinner.

Some people pretend to be rich but really have nothing.
    Others pretend to be poor but really are wealthy.

The rich may have to pay a ransom for their lives,
    but the poor will face no such danger.

Good people can look forward to a bright future,
    but the future of the wicked is like a flame going out.

Pride only leads to arguments,
    but those who take advice are wise.

Money that comes easily disappears quickly,
    but money that is gathered little by little will grow.

It is sad not to get what you hoped for.
    But wishes that come true are like eating fruit from the tree of life.

Those who reject what they are taught will pay for it,
    but those who obey what they are told will be rewarded.

The teaching of a wise person gives life.
    It is like a fountain that can save people from death.

People with good understanding will be well liked,
    but the lives of those who are not trustworthy are hard.

Every wise person acts with good sense,
    but fools show how foolish they are.

A wicked messenger brings nothing but trouble,
    but a trustworthy one makes everything right.

A person who refuses correction will end up poor and disgraced,
    but the one who accepts correction will be honored.

It is so good when wishes come true,
    but fools hate to stop doing evil.

Spend time with the wise and you will become wise,
    but the friends of fools will suffer.

Trouble always comes to sinners,
    but good people enjoy success.

Good people leave their wealth to their grandchildren,
    but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for good people.

A poor person’s field might produce plenty of food,
    but others often steal it away.

If you do not punish your children, you don’t love them,
    but if you love your children, you will correct them.

Good people have enough to eat,
    but the wicked will go hungry.

New Century Version (NCV)The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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ACAD: Giving Thanks – 1 Corinthians 1

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you — so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

I appeal to you, brothers,[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach[b] to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being[d] might boast in the presence of God. And because of him[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to uswisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Footnotes:

  1. 1 Corinthians 1:10 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God’s family, the church; also verses 11, 26
  2. 1 Corinthians 1:21 Or the folly of preaching
  3. 1 Corinthians 1:26 Greek according to the flesh
  4. 1 Corinthians 1:29 Greek no flesh
  5. 1 Corinthians 1:30 Greek And from him

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.