We found out last night that my husband’s mother passed away yesterday due to cancer. Her homegoing was not unexpected, but I don’t think you’re ever ready to lose the ones you love. We are rejoicing that she is no longer sick, or suffering, or sad – she is the in presence of her beloved Savior! You might be interested in reading the post Practicing Thankfulness in Laughter and Pain, which I wrote after we found out about her terminal cancer.

I will be going silent for a few days- please be praying for the family if you think about us. I will leave you with this song from Steven Curtis Chapman – he sums it up well.

It has been unseasonably warm here for the last few days – it’s hard to remember that it’s April when it’s 83 degrees during the day and warm at night! We’ve taken advantage of the nice weather to get some spring yardwork done!

I worked for quite a while putting mulch under the kids’ play area, which I am thrilled to say is finally done! When we moved in 2.5 years ago this was weedy flower bed with a decaying stump that had been made into a “water feature” that didn’t have a pump anymore, ie: a mosquito farm. The creative people who made this “water feature” also had tons of rocks cemented and placed around the decaying stump – NP earned some kind of award for getting that out of there and the ground leveled! We’ve been working on this little corner for so long, I can’t believe it’s actually a usable space now! (and who needs a sandbox when you have mulch to dig in?) ;)

It seemed fitting to recycle our old recycling bin organizer (we have curbside recylcling now and didn’t need it) to store the kids’ outside toys in. I’m glad to have a place to keep all those balls, bubble toys, chalk, water toys, etc. I’m planning to keep our sprinkler and some of my small gardening tools in the top so I can have them close at hand when we go out to play.

I can’t fully explain to you how much better our flower beds look from when we first moved in! Apparently somewhere back the line someone tried to landscape… but between sloppy work and later neglect, they weren’t in good shape! We really don’t know anything about gardening but are learning bit by bit (and our yard is almost all shade, which is challenging) – we’ve inherited lots of plants from neighbors and family, have moved everything around so much that the plants are probably dizzy, have weeded and worked and edged (NP made that awesome rock border out of rocks from the water feature!), and finally – we have mulched. Two yards of mulch later, things are looking up! I’m excited to see how this bed will be looking in another month or so!

Speaking of reusing rocks, I’ve really been wanting a bird bath (remember I have my budding birding addiction), but I’ve been bummed that the ones I have seen are either ugly or too expensive. Enter my talented husband, who built this beautiful bird bath for me out of more extra stone laying around and a glass dish that used to be under a flower pot! I love it, and the birds seem to approve, too!

What have you been tackling this week?

Last week we started looking at Wisdom Literature. After looking at the genre and purpose of wisdom literature a bit, today I’d like to think about what it means to be wise.

This brings to mind for me the end of 5th grade. The teachers in our Christian school would give out character awards to certain students – I vividly remember receiving a certificate that said they had observed that I had wisdom, and the teacher explaining that this meant not just intellectual ability, but understanding of spiritual truth. For most of my life, this is what I considered wisdom to be. But it is more than that.

The most commonly used Hebrew word used for “wisdom” in the book of Proverbs is “chokmah.” Check out some other interesting occurrences of this word:

Exodus 28:3 skill in embroidering
Exodus 31:3-6 working skillfully with metal, wood, and stone
Isaiah 10:13 understanding military strategy
2 Samuel 20:22 shrewdness diffusing conflict

Barbara Mouser, in 5 Aspects of Woman, explains two types of wisdom that we see in Scripture:
• Skill – mastering the physical principles which allow you to produce with skill in a certain area (such as the embroidering, metal working, etc mentioned above)
• Insight – Understanding of the world around us (ie: Solomon’s ponderings about why there is suffering, what is the purpose of life, etc.)

Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary adds a third facet to the definition of wisdom-
• ‘The terms “wisdom” and “wise” apply to men and women who represent a way of thinking and conduct that is orderly, socially sensitive, and morally upright.’

Thinking of wisdom in this way, can an unbeliever be “wise”?

My husband’s supervisor earlier in his career was an older Chinese man. He is brilliant and had trained in law, medicine, and psychology. He is a wealth of information, and because of his oriental background, constantly teaches in “proverbs.” My husband would be looking for advice about which method to take toward a particular problem, and his wise advisor might say, “you can cut down tree with steak knife – very difficult. Much easier – use an axe!”

This man is not a believer, but in many ways he is extremely wise. He has training, skill, experience, and an understanding of the world around him that is uncommon and refreshing. He has observed God’s created order and has recognized certain principles by which God created the world to work; he understands these principles and has, in many ways, mastered using them. He is as wise as one can be without fearing the Lord.

If an unbeliever can, in many ways, be wise… can a righteous person be a fool?

In many ways, yes! Again from Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary , ‘Several Hebrew words are rendered “fool,” with nuances ranging all the way from the naive but teachable person to the hopelessly incorrigible person who deserves no corrective efforts since such will be in vain.’

Those who have been saved by faith in the redemptive work of Christ can still be very, very foolish – naivety and failure to implement wisdom principles in their lives will produce foolish Christians. I find it extremely humorous (in a sad, ironic way) that Bill Mouser uses church committee meetings as frequent examples of righteous foolishness! He points out that often you will gather a room full of church leaders who might be wise and successful in their secular workplaces, and the meeting becomes a comedy of errors when it comes to wise leadership! Time is squandered, interpersonal skills are lacking, decisions are poorly made.

Now, you might be objecting, “But Kristi, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom!” True! No unsaved person can have the full scope of wisdom, just as a righteous person will not be the incorrigible fool. We’ll deal with this topic more in future posts.

So, if these things are true, how do we become wise?
• Mastering skills - Obviously this applies in countless areas, but for our purposes I want to reflect on what this has to do with Titus 2:5′s admonition for the older women to teach the younger to be workers at home. There are so many home-making skills that have been largely lost in the younger generations. From menu planning to sewing, there are countless skills that we as “workers at home” need to seriously think about. And older women, we need you to teach us!

• Pondering and gaining insight - I am in the midst of reading Pride and Prejudice – what great examples that book offers for silly, simple women who do not ponder things of value or gain insight about life! We might not be consumed with the town gossip or who is marrying whom for what fortune, but then again… how much time do we spend watching The Today Show or TLC or Clean Sweep compared to pondering, praying, reflecting? Our society is not a pondering society – gaining insight takes silence, it takes time alone in your head, and we do not do that well!

Think about Mary, the mother of Jesus – Luke 2:19 tells us, “But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.” What a task God had given this young girl from Nazareth – to raise the Son of God from conception! Mary treasured the message of the angels, the visit of the shepherds – she pondered these things in her heart and sought insight from God.

As we discussed in What’s Steeping in your Soul?, meditating on the Word and ways of God will make us “taste” like Him! Meditating on God’s Word is so much more than reading my paragraph-of-the-day in a devotional and checking off “quiet time” from my list of to-do’s. As we memorize His Word, ponder on it, turn it over and over in our minds, consider the mundane and extraordinary things in our daily life in light of it, we will gain wisdom and insight – we will begin to become truly wise.

So, although I greatly appreciate my fifth grade teacher’s attempt to commend me for being “wise” beyond my years, as a child I was still really a fool in most ways. Mastery of skills? Understanding of human behavior and society and the application of God’s moral code? Insight into God and His Word, His ways, His world? We all begin life as fools – my own children are little fools, and it is our great responsibility to train and discipline and seek to raise them to be not only righteous, but wise.

Why did God give us the Bible? What’s the point of it all?

Many people think that the Bible is just a historical record - it tells us what happened in the past. To an extent, this is true. The Bible is absolutely correct and trustworthy in all of the historical details given, and the field of archaeology continues to show this to be true. However, if the Bible was meant to be just a history book, it seems like some very important details are left out.

Have you ever wondered why we don’t know anything about Jesus’ childhood? Or what happened to Joseph, his earthly “father”? In fact, hundreds of years will go by with no mention at all, while a very short span of history (say, the life of Abraham and his family) are described in detail. Why? Because the point is not just to record history.

Even more people believe that the Bible is meant to be a moral guide. Have you heard the Bible referred to as “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth?” While it again holds true that the Bible does give us guidance on how to live, not every story included in the text prescriptively tells me how to live. Take a cursory read through the book of Judges and you have quite a disturbing plot for an R rated movie! Why does God include these awful stories in His Word? Well, it certainly is not because they tell us how to live!

So, why do we have it? Why bother reading it?? Unfortunately, even if you were raised in the Church, you may have a two-dimensional view of the Bible. I like to call this “flannel graph theology!” We know the “who, what, when, and where” in detail. Maybe you were even on a quiz team and know lots of Bible trivia (Quick! How many cubits wide and long was the Ark of the Covenant?). But, what is far too often missing is the WHY. Many times we even discourage people from asking these questions. Why do we live this way? “That’s just what good Christians do.” Why is this weird story about a talking donkey in the Bible? (Sometimes we avoid that all together by not teaching the “weird” ones!)

Let me tell you a life-changing secret: The Bible is not about us, or even some amazing people in ancient history!! The Bible’s main purpose is to reveal God! HE is the primary purpose – to tell us about our Creator, Redeemer, Father, and Lord of the universe. The Bible doesn’t just tell us who did what, or how to live. The Bible reveals God’s character, His plan for the ages, and His relentless pursuit of His people. It tell us WHY we should do certain things (because of the character of our God), rather than just WHAT to do. It paints amazing pictures of complex characters throughout its pages, not to lift them up and glorify the people, but to show the amazing grace, sovereignty, justice, compassion, etc. of the God behind it all.

So, you want to know Who God is? Put down The Shack and pick up His Word – it’s all about God!