WISDOM & HUMILITY

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter… ©

St. Augustine said, “The so-called innocence of children is more a matter of weakness of limb than purity of heart.”

Anyone who is a parent, school teacher, or church nursery worker will verify that observation.

I think that the so-called wisdom of old people is more a matter of slowness of mind than increase of understanding.

When I look thoughtful, preparing to dispense some sagacious perception, I’m really trying to remember what the conversation is about, or trying to recall the name of the person I intend to quote… “Was it Dudley Moore or Reinhold Niebuhr or Kowalski, on The Penguins of Madagascar, who said that?” By the time I figure out that it was Paul Baker, the conversation has gone onto something about Paris, but I’m not sure if it’s Hilton, France, or Illinois, so I just keep looking thoughtful.

In former days, when I decided to do something stupid, I went from thought to action in a nanosecond. Now when I decide to sin, by the time I’m able to get off the couch, I can’t remember which sin I had in mind.

The prophet Joel 2:28 predicted, “Your old men will dream dreams.” When people think I am going to advance some wise thought, maybe I’m just fulfilling the prophecy.

We are not wiser just because we are older. Sometimes aging just means we have made the same mistakes so long that we’ve become used to them and think they are normal.

We old folks need to be humble about this wisdom we are supposed to possess. Just having opinions about everything does not equate to wisdom.

“Be humble, counting others as more significant than yourselves.” [Philippians 2:3] If we do that, maybe we are wise after all.

John Robert McFarland

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

The “place of winter” mentioned in the title line is Iron Mountain, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [The UP], where life is defined by winter even in the summer! [This phrase is explained in the post for March 20, 2014.]

I tweet as yooper1721.