Success
Finding Wisdom in the Information Age
We have an absolutely fabulous Farmer’s Market in Jacksonville.
Row after row of fruits and vegetables fill baskets and boxes and crates.
Flats of fat, juicy blackberries, nothing like the wild ones I grew up scavenging from empty lots and roadsides.
Fresh watermelons with bright green stems, fragrant peaches with rosy cheeks, vibrant purple eggplant, yellow and green squashes and even young okra pods filled our arms as we treked back and forth from our favorite vendors to unload our treasures into the car.
It was a rare treat to have Kimberly and two of her brood with me.
She is a sophisticated cook that pours over health and fitness sites for sugarless homemade treats and wholesome foods for her family. She has embraced the whole unprocessed foods trend; that we old timers have lived by our entire lives, yet with a more glamorous twist.
It started with the peaches.
They smelled so good. I wanted Ashlyn and Brayden to experience their fragrance and learn how to select really delicious fruit.
And then it was the tomatoes.
We moved from vendor to vendor picking up tomatoes and smelling them. I wanted them to experience that fresh tomato smell. I only needed a few for salads, but I seized the opportunity to teach them how to select a great tomato.
We felt them.
Smelled them.
Looked for blemishes.
We didn’t buy any tomatoes. I think I’ll find a farm, where we can pick them.
Tomatos are a fruit.
That’s what our Science teacher tells us.
But if you’re wise, you won’t put them in a fruit salad.
That is a disgusting thought…tomatoes in a fruit salad. Ridiculous.
We know tomatoes are a fruit, because we live in the “Information Age.”
All kinds of information is at our finger tips. Wayne, often sits with his phone as we chat;
confirming information,
looking up names,
events,
animals.
Discovering.
Exploring everything
and anything
or anywhere his creative mind takes him.
Information is easy to find!
We are bombarded with it.
And we love it.
You can find anything and everything with just a few clicks on the keyboard.
How to bake cookies.
How to unstop your sink.
How to potty train your children.
Great information, but somewhere along the way we’ve lost wisdom.
Lost Wisdom?
But having information, does not make you wise.
Wisdom uses information skillfully. Like the cook that uses the tomato as a vegetable and not a fruit.
Wisdom means being wise, using the knowledge and information you have to do things the best way.
So go beyond gathering information
Proverbs 4:5a Get wisdom, get understanding:
Wisdom Decides
Wisdom Acts
We filled the back of our car with fruits and vegetables, but if we leave them in the trunk, they will never nourish our bodies.
At some point, we have to do something with the information we have gathered. We have to use the recipe. We have to put the steps into practice. We have to apply what we know.
In this Information Age, we need more than information, we need the wisdom, the insight, the courage to put knowledge into practice.
Wisdom prioritizes.
Wisdom causes us to sift through the information to focus on the important.
So that you don’t…
spin off to unimportant things.
remain on the treadmill of searching, without doing.
miss the best.
Wisdom Listens
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. ESV Proverbs 12:15
Wisdom Discerns
Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:17 ESV
Proverbs 4 is an insightful glimpse into an intimate moment between a father, David and his son, Solomon. It’s almost as if I can hear his voice grow tender and quiet as he reflects on the wisdom that he gleaned from his dad. He gave wise guidance that we need to live out today.
My father taught me,
“Take my words to heart.
Follow my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom; develop good judgment.
Don’t forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Don’t turn your back on wisdom, for she will protect you.
Love her, and she will guard you.
7 Getting wisdom is the wisest thing you can do!
And whatever else you do, develop good judgment.
8 If you prize wisdom, she will make you great.
Embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will place a lovely wreath on your head;
she will present you with a beautiful crown.”
10 My child, listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.
That’s right, tomatoes are a fruit, but if you are wise you don’t put them in a fruit salad!
Can you tell us about a time that being wise influenced or changed what you did?
I’d love to hear from you! God bless you.
Don’t forget to share this with a friend.