Introductions

There is an old Welsh saying, "Wisdom, like the best of the honey, will be at the bottom."

I am a student. I have always been a student, and I will always be a student. I have a passion for learning, and for finding truth and wisdom wherever it may be found.

So I have decided it a reasonable endeavor to acquire a taste for the honey at the bottom of the jar - to notice things that stand out to me, that resonate with my heart, my mind, my passions, my spirit, that challenge the way I think, or question the norms I easily accept, to listen carefully to the wisdom of others, to seek wisdom in hidden places, and to consider all of these things as they relate to the life I live.

Wisdom has been defined by some as the practical application of knowledge to the betterment of everything. James L. Crenshaw defines wisdom as “The reasoned search for specific ways to ensure personal well-being in everyday life, to make sense of extreme adversity and vexing anomalies, and to transmit this hard-earned knowledge so that successive generations will embody it.” David J. A. Clines says that “Wisdom is true insight – into the way one should live, into the nature of things into the ways of God and humankind.” The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines wisdom as “accumulated learning… an ability to discern inner qualities and relationships… good sense… generally accepted belief… a wise attitude… [or] the teachings of the ancient wise men.” To a certain extent, I find all of these ideas to be relevant, and important pieces to an understanding of wisdom as a concept, but none of them leaves me satisfied. To take all of my nebulous thoughts on the matter and create a succinct definition for the word, I would say that wisdom is a lifestyle, which involves not only a constant search for knowledge, but a constant struggle to understand how such knowledge changes one’s perspective and the way one interacts with the world, with other people, and with God. Wisdom is a never-ending quest for knowledge, but it is more than that. It is a life lived seeking a fuller understanding of the immeasurable complexities of life and applying that understanding so as to make life as full as possible, in love and relationships, peace and happiness, justice and integrity, joy, hope, and righteousness, and all things good and Godly.

So this blog, as I have imagined it, expects to become a collection. I tend to write down thoughts, ideas, questions, quotes, etc on scrap pieces of paper and in various journals, in the margins of class notes, and on sticky notes in books and Bibles. And so this becomes a place that I can collect such things and share them with those who would read them.