What is Wisdom??

I love it when a group of words congregate, converge together in such a way that it makes you pause.  I love it when a sentence is so beautifully put together that it brings a smile to your face.
I love good quotations dripping and drenched with wisdom.
This is part of the reason why I love scripture so much.  The words of Scripture create worlds that sing to my soul.  The words of Scripture cast a vision that compels, challenges and calls out to my heart.  The words of Scripture form and fashion a space.  There is this sense that the words of worship create a place too.  This is called, the Cathedral of liturgy.  Good prayers, call to worships, hymns that flow into a Scripture passage that is amplified, electrified in the sermon.  You enter in...just as you would a house...only it is cinder block or wood structure...but made from verbs and nouns dancing together.  Words that have not just of syllables but evoke meaning and possibility.

So, on this Friday, the first of March...I wanted to share some words that are created worlds for me.  Words that open space for me.

As Jimi Hendrix said, "Knowledge speaks...but wisdom listens."

What are you listening to right now?  Does it have depth or is it surface level babbling?  It is powerful or just more political spinning?  Is it a world of wonder or does it make you want to wander off to the edge of the earth?

Or how about this one...
James Hudson Taylor - "There are three stages in the work of God: impossible, difficult, and done.

I think I get stuck between stages one and two all the time.  Or, even worse, I see something as impossible and don't even start/try.  Parker Palmer says that sometimes we make our visions so small because we are afraid of failing/falling.  While small visions have a place/space...are important... we also need that which might outlast our life time.  What vision is in your heart as we begin the third month of 2019?

Or what about this one...
16th Century poet - Every saint has a past...and every sinner has a future.

I just love the notion that not every halo is as shiny as you think it is...and that no matter what kind of brokenness you have participated in, God's grace is still there, ready to welcome you home.  As a matter of fact, as Paul says in Romans, "nothing separates us for the love of God.  Nothing....Nada... Zip...Zilch...can't do it, even if you try.  That is why grace is unconditional and unceasing.

Finally...even though I could do this all day...

Edmund Burke, "Never, no, never did Nature say one thing and Wisdom another."  There are truths that only creation can teach and tell us.  There are profound mysteries that come from rain drenching, sun soaking, wind whipping, standing on a mountain above the clouds or sinking your toes into the sand or just being on that corner where you call home.  There are more truths in your back yard than could ever be experienced and explored.  We miss them.  Because we see them too much.  So, listen to the wisdom...not only of words...but also the cathedral of creation proclaim and preaching this day.

And may there be more than a trace of God's grace in that.

Blessings ~~