Wisdom

“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”
—Proverbs 3:13-18

For a long time, I lived my life making the same wrong decisions and mistakes and the consequences of these choices were evident. Rather than preparing myself for the next time, I quickly forgot about the error of my ways and the consequences and was putting myself in position for more of the same. Instead of learning from what I had done wrong, I was like many others and reliving the same mistakes as though it was a pattern.

One of the best examples is the friends that I chose. For some reason, I had a bad habit of choosing people that were similar in their character and behavior and at this point in my life, this was not good. Although I had a lot of friends when I was younger, I seemed to always find myself alone but each time that I did, I never learned. Rather than realizing that it was the people that I chose rather than myself, I ignored what was right in front of my face and this is how many people live today.

“A person of understanding delights in wisdom.”
—Proverbs 10:23

This concept is probably harder to understand when we are younger or do not come from an upbringing or environment where there is constant attention and/or support. Too many homes today only have one parent in them which means, there is not enough time or attention to go around and the lessons that are to be taught are often absent. This is something that I saw the older that I got as many of my friends had only one parent in their home and they seemed to get away with more than me and my brother.

What you do not always realize when you are younger is that not everything is as they appear and the older that I have gotten, the more that I realize the importance of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge comes from learning what you have been through and wisdom comes from observing and understanding the things around you, even your mistakes. There have been many times in my life when I wanted to redo a particular moment in time but as we all know, we never get a redo in life but sometimes, we do get second chances and when we do, we must not take them for granted.

The most important lesson that I have learned in this life is that the presence of Christ is worth much more than the presence of a million others regardless of what they have to offer you. Although there have been times when I have been surrounded by a large group of people and felt lonely, being surrounded by the love of Christ is a feeling that there is no substitute for and despite the fact we make mistakes, Christ forgives us which is something that many people have a problem with doing and while we fall short of Christ’s glory, He still loved us enough to die for us knowing the flawed creatures that we are.

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
—Proverbs 2:6