Take the wisdom that is yours....

Advent is a journey towards Christmas. And sometimes that journey is not as bright as we would like it to be....


I am reminded of the quote in Jeremiah 23:5:   

                 I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; 
                As king he shall reign and govern wisely,          
             

What is wisdom to you? As I search and read and learn, I see that many faith traditions see wisdom as the culmination of a life lived faithfully and with courage. It comes only after one meets adversity and remains steadfast despite setbacks and adversities.

I guess that makes me a candidate for wisdom. And anyone who identifies with the above comment is a candidate as well. That means you.

How often do we honor the wisdom we have gained through life? How often do we even acknowledge that the setbacks and adversities we have endured has, in the long scheme of things, made us better persons.

So I am here to offer a word of encouragement...if your life has dealt you some hard blows; if you have struggled with decisions, relationships, kids, well then, you most definitely have a claim on wisdom.

Reflect on your experience. Think over the lessons you have learned. Consider how things are different now only because of those past experiences.

Do this, and I assure you, you too will govern wisely.

And the world will be blessed by another wise and honorable soul.

When God breaks the rules

I'd like to offer just a short thought today.

Richard Rohr writes in The Naked Now:

"Good theology always protects God's total freedom, and does not demand that God follow our rules. Jesus does this explicitly in John's Gospel several times: 'The spirit blows where it wills. You can hear and see it by its effects, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes" (3:8).

What does this mean? It means that the rules we make are not the rules that God follows. In fact, every time God forgives or shows mercy, God breaks the rules of justice and accountability. God steps outside our concepts of what should be.

This is what we call grace. In our world, we want a tit-for-tat universe. God does not follow this concept. The spirit of God flows where it wills, including letting the sun shine on the wicked as well as the righteous (though I doubt very much any of us are righteous), lets the rain come down on the just and the unjust. In fact, God's generosity is scandalously because it can be found even in the failure of sin. Simply put, there is no place left where God cannot be found!

So if God breaks the rules, what does that tell me? That the spirit of God flows where it wills. And who am I to judge that grace?