Word to the Wise

So I’ve spent a good part of the last 24 hours thinking about Wisdom.  Deep for me, yes. Wisdom is something that we all talk about and yet, really don’t THINK about.  What is wisdom exactly?

I bet his beard is wiser than me

Yesterday I was in a team meeting with several people who are definitely wiser than me, and, what do you know, the topic was wisdom.  So I sat there, doe faced, and tried not to make an ass of myself, because quite honestly, I don’t think I’m what one could consider a very ‘wise’ person….and definitely not a wise mom…

There isn't just ONE way to baby proof a house folks!

But the meeting got me to thinking about wisdom and how the application or lack of application of wisdom defines us as human beings, and specifically moms.  Do better moms than me wake up each day, take stock of the situation, and apply mystical wisdom to their parenting techniques?  How the bleep do I know?  I DO know that if I was going to apply wisdom to my every day life it probably wouldn’t happen until at least noon, or, the time when I stop, take a breath, and remember to put on a bra and deodorant.

I’ve read a lot of wisdom literature over the years, and it always talks about how you can’t be wise unless you choose to seek wisdom.  But how do you do that?  What kind of wisdom are we talking about here?  If you’re not a better mom than me than you’ll understand what I mean when I say between the house, the kids, their school junk, their hygiene, and feeding them, there just ain’t a whole lot of leftover time to be meditating on the teachings of the wise.  I’m not saying it’s not a good thing to TRY to do, but I’m saying sometimes you have to bathe a child that smells like poop…that takes all the intellectual spunk right out of you, you know?

But what if wisdom is just CHOOSING to be wise, even if you aren’t sure HOW to be wise?  I can’t necessarily speak with great authority on Christian apologetics, or Eastern philosophies,  but I can tell you this……life is bleepin’ weird sometimes, and if you choose to imagine the worst about every situation you encounter, or every event that inconveniences you, then you are missing out on something big.

Jedi Big in fact

Someone told me the other day that my kids are just crazy funny.  I don’t think that’s true.  My perception of them might be funny, but they aren’t really any more entertaining than the average 13, 7 or 4 year olds.  But I have chosen to see them that way because the alternative is pretty dull and lifeless.  The truth is, life is pretty boring.  We all do the same things every day.  We get up, get the family out the door, clean, shop, work, whatever, and none of those things are especially fulfilling.  There just isn’t time to think about being wise, or deep, when everything that happens around you is mostly pretty shallow and lame.  However, it’s not really true.  We choose to perceive life that way because of some internal grumpy setting that humans seem to be born with.  Maybe it’s arrogance, or pride, or just boredom…heck if I know;  but I do know that if you aren’t careful you’ll wake up one day and believe that your whole life, the world has been out to get you….and by that point you're pretty bleeped.  


Wisdom is about choosing to see things the way the wise would see them.  You don’t have to be one of the wise, to see the world the way they do.  Being wise is imitating those who have gotten it right.  Maybe I’m lucky because I think most of the people I respect and care for seem to have already figured that out, and they let me hover and watch, without pointing out I have a LONG way to go.  Maybe someday I’ll have time to emulate their wisdom in ways that will effect more change than I can right now.   If I can get through this phase in my life by laughing away the dullness, the irritation, the crazy, maddening tide of repetition and chaos, well, then perhaps I’ll gain the wisdom to know what to do with wisdom, when I finally find it.