March 5, 2010 - Baruch 3:14 "Wisdom"

"Learn where there is wisdom,
where there is strength,
where there is understanding,
so that you may at the same time discern
where there is length of days, and life,
where there is light for the eyes,
and peace."

Baruch was the secretary of the prophet Jeremiah. The book is broken into different sections, but the pattern is the same. The people sin, they are chastised, they repent,they return to God. Baruch acknowledges that both punishment and restoration come from the Lord.

As for me, I do not see myself as wise at all. Yes, I've learned a few things in my 61 years around the track, but I still make an awful lot of mistakes, many of them over and over again. I still allow myself to get hurt over things I can't control. I still open my mouth and the exact WRONG thing comes out of it. I go into things with the best of intentions, only to have it blow up in my face. I continue to believe, with Anne Frank, that "people are really good at heart," even when they don't live up their part of the bargain, if there was one.

This passage, though, says this is a skill (if you want to call it that) that can be learned. Not something inborn, but a learned behavior. How do you learn wisdom? Where are the books with a lesson plan on becoming wise? I've know little children who were much wiser than the adults who raised them. And I've known adults who make a shambles out of their lives because they just can't (or won't) learn the lessons life puts in their path.

There is an old saying that goes something like this: "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand." And maybe that's the trick to wisdom. Wisdom is not found in a book. Knowledge can be found in books, yes. Knowledge is found in the head. Wisdom is found in the heart. And the only way to become wise is to get out there and LIVE! Wisdom does not happen sitting on the sidelines. Wisdom happens in the middle of the game. Wisdom comes when you stick your hand in the fire and find out that it burns. Wisdom happens when you DO...but sometimes it happens when you just WATCH. I can look at someone's life and say, wow...now I wanna be like that! Or I can looka t someone's life and say, wow...what a mess! Both are wise.

So in this passage we have wisdom, and understanding, and strength. Powerful images, all. But continue...oh do please continue...for in learning to be strong, in learning to be wise, in learning to understand the troubles and foibles of ourselves and others, we learn to find peace within ourselves. We find life, light, and peace.

You know, sometimes it seems as if peace in the Bible is rare. We read a lot about war and stupidity and God being angry about one thing or another, but peace? Not so much. So, why are so drawn to these books? Written over a span of a few THOUSAND years by men and women, shepherds and physicians, prophets and just plain folks, why does this book, above all others, and with so much rampant violence and wrong-doing and sin, continue to speak to our hearts?

I think it's not because of the sex and violence we find there, but because interspersed into the Bible,tucked away like tiny treasures, we find the peace we are all seeking. Hidden away in passages like Baruch, we read about life and light and peace, and we have hope that within the idiocy of our own lives, perhaps there lives a kernal of peace in our own hearts as well. These gems of hope, the words of Jesus, the cry of the Psalmist shine the Light of God into our hearts, and we find Peace.

Life. Light. Peace. Blessings. Thank you, Lord.