LakeLady's Retreat

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Carnival of Beauty - The Beauty of Wisdom

As the new school year begins, I find myself setting goals for what I want the children to learn. I want to help them develop into intelligent, well-rounded individuals. Yet, while I’m concerned about the specific information and knowledge they will acquire through their studies, I’m most interested in helping them to have wisdom in their lives.

As a family, we used to like to watch the TV show Jeopardy together. We would have such fun shouting out the various answers (actually, on Jeopardy, you shout out the questions) and cheering on our favorite contestants. If you’re a fan, you know the name Ken Jennings. Ken was a contestant for 74 consecutive wins, earning $2.52 million. Many were the comments about how very smart Ken was, how intelligent and what a high IQ he must possess. But is intelligence really measurable by the amount of knowledge you can memorize and recall on demand?

The online dictionary Wikipedia defines intelligence like this:

Intelligence is a property of mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language and learn. There are several ways to define intelligence. In some cases intelligence may include traits such as creativity, personality, character, knowledge, or wisdom. However other psychologists prefer not to include these traits in the definition of intelligence.

In that case then, yes, when you consider the abilities to reason, plan, solve problems and comprehend ideas and language, Mr. Jennings has absolutely proven his intelligence on the game show Jeopardy. I’ll even go as far as to say that he exhibited the traits of creativity, personality, character and knowledge.

But what about wisdom?

Wikipedia says this about wisdom:

Wisdom is often considered to be a trait that can be developed by experience, but not taught… Some see wisdom as a quality that even a child, otherwise immature, may possess independent of experience or complete knowledge.

Although knowledge may assist wisdom, knowledge without wisdom is asking for big trouble. The Bible sums up this point quite well in what took place in the Garden of Eden. By eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve made the fatal mistake of trying to match wits with their Creator - discovering that knowledge without wisdom is dangerous.

Wisdom is all important. King Solomon, when told he could ask God for whatever he wanted, chose wisdom above all other worldly treasures. "God gave Solomon wisdom - the deepest of understanding and the largest of hearts." 1Kings 4:29

How do we get wisdom? The answers are found in the descriptions of wisdom in the Bible:

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom . . . . For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:13, 16-18).

As my teens would say, "Wisdom rocks! "

I hope Ken Jennings finds wisdom to use his $2.52 million wisely.

May your days be filled with wisdom and joy.

Blessings,

LakeLady

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Thursday, August 9, 2007

Beauty of the Lord's Day

Posted in Carnival of Beauty

We set aside our Sunday each week as a day of rest and worship. This is the Lord’s Day, a gift from God to us. Yet, truthfully…isn’t every day a gift from God…a Lord’s Day? I believe it is, and that we should, as Psalm 118 says, “…rejoice and be glad…” in every day we’re given.

Sunday, we enjoyed an anointed, wonderful time of worship with our church family, and a sweet, shy, little guy in my Sunday school class opened up to me for the first time. Sunday was a blessed Lord’s Day.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Monday was the Lord's Day. It was beautiful, sunny and warm. We had clear skies and the children enjoyed frolicking in the lake.

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Had the worship been off key or my little student unruly, would it have been any less the Lord’s Day?

Had there been thunderstorms and rain, should we not rejoice and be glad?

Tuesday, late, on the way from Lexington to Savannah on a routine run, our nephew’s truck jack-knifed and careened out of control. I’m sure that Jesus was smiling as he welcomed Danny home that night. Danny will be missed, by his wife, his three young children, his sisters (including his twin), parents, family and all who knew him. He was a wonderful, warm, Godly man and we loved him dearly. How hard this is to accept, and we don’t know why… however, we do know …

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

What started out as a carefree, summertime week had turned into a difficult one. It’s easy to rejoice in God’s love on the sunny days. It’s important to rejoice in God’s love on the cloudy ones. They are all the Lord’s days.

This is the day the Lord has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

You are my God, and I will give you thanks;

You are my God, and I will exalt you.

Rejoice in whatever this Lord’s Day brings.

...and don’t forget to give your loved ones an extra long hug!

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My sweet hubbie took the quirky little picture you see above. Contrary to what it may seem to indicate, the kids and I are not usually found sitting around together looking like sardines packed in mustard sauce. We were actually loaded up in our little space capsule at the St. Louis Arch - ready to ride to the top! Now THAT was a cool field trip!! When we're not on field trips, you'll find us living our dream on a lovely little lake in the Lake Region of N. Central Florida - with lots of cows, horses, raccoons, opossums and gators for neighbors (...there are a few humans as neighbors too!). We're in our 14th year of homeschooling, and even though all of our homeschooling children are now high schoolers, we still enjoy the eclectic, hands-on, literature based learning style that we always have. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways, and to Him, alone, we give all the praise and glory! Soli Deo Gloria!!