SPIRITUALITY - WISDOM

As “guest columnist” this week, I thank my wife Bonnie for inviting me to share a few of my thoughts with you about the “wholehearted life.” I hope that you’ve been enjoying her articles as much as I have. More importantly, I hope you’ve also been stimulated and challenged to think more deeply about the many subjects she has presented here over the past year. As you can probably imagine, we have had plenty of intense conversations at home about these issues. As Bonnie observed in her recent article, true wisdom is not the same as having information or acquiring knowledge. Many have much knowledge, but remain fools.

Personally, I have had the wonderful privilege of living in and visiting many places in this country and around the world. In the process I have met people from hundreds of cultural backgrounds and lifestyles. I have taken advantage of these opportunities to discuss and address all sorts of life-issues. I have benefited from reading thousands of books and articles about a wide variety of topics. Many would say that I must certainly have attained wisdom by now. However, that gathering of knowledge is not evidence that I am on the road to truth or fullness of life.

On the other hand, I recently met a man whom I consider to be very wise. Now in his 70’s, he has never traveled more than one hundred miles from the place of his birth, a town of which you have likely never heard. Yet, I sat spell-bound for hours as he opened up treasures of truth about life and about God that I had missed (or never absorbed) along the way. Attaining wisdom may include gaining knowledge, but far more important is understanding that information, how it fits together in a positive and purposeful way and then applying it to life.

It has always been fascinating to me that many of the most significant “trailblazers” have been men and women, born and raised in small, relatively unknown towns, without the “advantage” of exclusive, high-priced education. St. Paul once wrote: “We preach Christ crucified…the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (I Cor. 1:23-25). Wherever people are willing to seek truth, to be challenged, to act with integrity on what they have come to believe, the door is open for wisdom. Where there is true wisdom, Godly wisdom, there also is Godly power.

Several years ago, when Bonnie and I were “free” to live anywhere in the world, the Lord clearly led us to Diagonal. We believed then, and still do, that this community holds the potential to be a center to bring about Godly change in this world. Let’s keep on encouraging one another to live and grow in Christ, challenging each other to increase in wisdom, and to watch what the power of God can do in and from Diagonal.


Gary Jaeckle