What is wisdom?

Recently I was asked this question: “Do you ever make a decision against wisdom and just go with the heart?” If they were asking “common sense vs heart” I would say yes. There is a time to go against common sense, and go with your gut, or passion, or whatever you want to call it.

But I was thinking about wisdom. What exactly is it? As I thought about it I came up with my own definition:

Wisdom is the place where the heart, the intellect, experience, and the Spirit of God intersect.

The heart is that center of ourselves where we discover who we really are, what we really love. It is the place of passion, desire, gifting, longings.

The intellect enables us to objectively discover truth, think things through, be logical.

Experience is priceless. From it we learn truth of a different sort. Whether our own experience or someone elses. The place where truth meets life.

The Spirit of God is critical. Proverbs says that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. Without a sense of a present God, and humility toward Him, I personally wouldn’t trust someone’s wisdom.

But when a person is desiring to please God, know truth, learn from experience, understand what is happening in their heart…then they are seeking wisdom. And I would say that makes for a good combination. It includes the heart, or passion. But it is a checked passion because it also includes all those other things as well.

My two cents…I hope I can live wisely.

The WOO strength…or is it a weakness?

WOO – Win Other’s Over…so that’s my number one strength. Sounds like a car salesman, really. But I guess it is better than TOO – Turn Other’s Off. Now that would be a harder strength to have. Or maybe that would actually be easier, because I wouldn’t really care.

As a person with WOO, I find it really hard to not be liked. When I need to say hard things, I find ways to say them that are easy on the other person. Why? I could say because I care about them, but the truth is, I want them to like me. That’s the dark side of WOO.

So this week I had to say something a little bit hard to someone about their behavior. It was actually my job to say it. And I sort of messed it up. It went south really fast. I really didn’t predict it would go south, because I am usually pretty good at these kinds of conversations. Now the dark side of WOO is taking over…I don’t want to be the bad guy. I want to be liked more than I want just about anything else.

I know the desire to be liked is not a good thing when it becomes my over-riding desire. Because it keeps me from wanting to please God above all else.

But what I want to know, if is WOO is a strength. Why does it feel like such a weakness? Every strength has a dark side. Maybe that keeps us humble about our strengths. In any case I find it funny that “Finding Your Strengths” really helps you find your weaknesses. It’s really hard to focus on strengths for very long, because they are really just the back side of weaknesses. I tend to find it much easier to see the weak side in myself than the strong side.

What I really want to figure out, is exactly how to “speak the truth in love” without all my WOO baggage along.

Good-bye summer of good-byes

I think summer is over. Today I spent hours sorting wedding pictures, and putting them in an album. It was sad. The memories of the day were wonderful. But putting all the photos in order, into an album, brought some kind of finality to a summer of craziness, fun, and special moments, that had a few too many good-byes.

I went for a run to clear my head. I remembered the many days last fall running with Krissy, talking about Dave, her excitement about him, then their engagement, the planning. And I realized that last year was huge…it was full. Not all of good things…there were a few surgeries, alot of pain, but through it all our family was together. And there was alot going on. It led to a full summer, one that I took one day at a time.

So the summer happened…a great wedding. Tons of activity at home. A big move for Krissy and Dave. Back to campus for Nikki. Tim and Jessica, good friends, left for a year in Israel. The whole summer I told myself “just enjoy every minute, soak it in” and I am thankful that I did! I didn’t say goodbyes until I had to.

Now it is over, and usually when a summer ends I feel like “back to the real world!, summer fun is done.” But this year nothing really feels the same. So much is different. A new stage of life is very real. I’m not sure what this year will feel like. I’m feeling a little stunned. And very sad. Like I am letting go of something that I can’t hang on to any more, but really wish I could. Like some part of me is sinking into a sea, and I realize it has drowned already and I need to let it sink…let go, say goodbye.

So I feel like there is yet one more goodbye I need to say, but I can’t quite get a grip as to exactly what I am saying goodbye to. So I’ll just say goodbye to summer…and let the other goodbye that I think needs to be said in my heart happen as it will. And hopefully I will embrace what God has planned for me each day, and trust Him to carry me as we journey together.

So goodbye summer….you were truly amazing!