What kind of wisdom do you seek?

The two wisest people in my life were my dad and my Uncle Gary. Now my dad was a given, I only knew him for 9 years and respected what he had to say. I had to. My Uncle Gary has a lot of charm. Walking up to this man, you would instantly feel fear and almost belittled before he even spoke. He had an opinion about everything, he knew what was going on in the world, and even decided what his next soapbox was going to be. But his biggest complaint was ignorant people. I would marvel at the conversations between my dad and him, the comments flew from one corner of the room to the next. They would laugh. They would be in remorse. They knew everything.

What I didn't realize then, was that wisdom is not obtained by the vast knowledge these two had, but they got it from experiences. From age. Do I think that they were young and foolish at one time? Probably. That was how they learned.

As I got older, I realized my role-models had changed. I used to work for a woman who was the pastor's wife. She was strict. I can remember my mother saying she reminded her of the nuns in the catholic school. And yet, there was more to this woman than that. I attribute most of my tendencies to be modeled after her. She loved things straight, not perfect, clean, and done right. If there was a more efficient way that produced the same or better results, she would use it. She was not afraid of change. And to top this woman off, she was a model behavior of how a Godly woman really acts. I don't know if I ever thanked her for being that kind of model for my life. I was going through some tough times then. I still think of her with fondness. She had an ageless wisdom beyond even her years, which were many. She knew a lot, and would admit when she didn't know something. She was always gracious when teaching something you didn't know already.

I think I have to also say something about the wisdom of my brother, Jeff. He is 2 years younger than me, and I never would have said he was wise until after I moved out and got married. Here is living proof that you can be wise and be young as well. I don't know how many people he has counseled, and he has a good gift for this. That's not to say he is perfect, because he's not. Being that he is in college, he thinks he knows everything, in fact, he insists that he does. We've gotten into many disagreements over this. When he puts his arrogance aside, he's a brilliant man. He loves the Lord and he seeks good relationships. His heart is almost always in the right place and he knows what to say and how to comfort. Did I mention he loves the Lord? Yeah, that is worth mentioning twice.

I've been reading proverbs these last 2 weeks. And I'm realizing that I want to be wise, but I've seen 2 kinds of wisdom. Earthly wisdom, which was my father and my uncle, and Godly wisdom, which is the pastor's wife and my brother. Earthly wisdom is so bitter and useless, what are we to do with it when we die? We lose all of it. But Godly wisdom is applicable after we have left this life. In fact, God blesses us more because we seek it here on earth. A friend of mine used to parallel this to the crown you get in heaven. How many jewels are you going to have on your crown? I hope I have a jewel, no matter how small, for my Godly wisdom.