9/50: Seeking Wisdom
A song to take with you on the pathway to wisdom.
“Happy are those who find wisdom
and those who gain understanding.
Her profit is better than silver,
and her gain better than gold.
Her value exceeds pearls;
all you desire can’t compare with her.
In her right hand is a long life;
in her left are wealth and honor.
Her ways are pleasant;
all her paths are peaceful.
She is a tree of life to those
who embrace her;
those who hold her tight are happy
”
I’m not in pastoring for the money, but if I could name what I really want for myself out of this work, it’s wisdom. Some of my favorite authors have also been pastors or priests — Greg Boyle, Barbara Brown Taylor, Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson. The things that are hardest about pastoring a congregation are also the things that produce beautiful wisdom when lived into this call with faithfulness and courage.
The older I get, the more I understand why the writer of Proverbs has a nearly romantic attachment to wisdom. We never know the turns life will take and the internal compass of wisdom is the best we can take with us into those turns. Wisdom is the carved pathway of trust and reliance on God that spills naturally out into the world.
Wisdom is a divine gift, but we put ourselves in the way of it. First, by knowing ourselves. And second, by being in community.
This is why, despite all the frustration that it can bring, I still believe in church. It is a place where the rhythms of self-reflection and community come together in a powerful way to sand down the edges of our lives. We get to see God show up when we are all gaining wisdom together, and the world is changed.