“What a dumb thing to do.” As one wired for risk taking, those words have come from my mouth many times—most likely, not nearly as often as warranted.

“How hard it is for a young person to be wise.” The statement can’t be original with me even though I have thought and repeated it often through the years. As I grow older, I hope I am becoming wiser.

The poem in Proverbs 8 personifies wisdom as formed by God prior to creation of the world. Wisdom was the first work of God’s creation and found joy being in God’s presence while He did His creative work.

The wise one of proverbs is knowledgeable, discrete, insightful, rich, honorable, and consistent. She is consistently at God’s side, seeking life, and God’s favor. The wise one is prudent, trustworthy, true, just, right, and upright.

Sounds like wisdom will be a welcomed resident in God’s restored garden.

The wise stands in stark contrast to death, opposing wickedness, crookedness, perverse speech, evil, pride, and all behavior that is perverse and evil.

The choice seems to be one between white and black—not much gray. Reflecting back over my life, I see wisdom both as a decision and as a journey. Deciding to be wise as a youth is one thing—actually being wise did not appear immediately after the decision. Wisdom grows throughout the journey.

Much the same way as following God’s trail, I did not find myself wise or godly at the snap of my fingers. I would like to believe I am more wise and godly now than was my reality at age 21. The very act of living over the last sixty-five years encountered the black, the white, and the gray. Through the sinful black, the struggle with the grays, and the times when white was victorious, wisdom was doing its work.

As a life-long Yogi Berra fan, the good news is “it ain’t over till it’s over.” Each new day brings with it the possibility of increased growth in wisdom. The idea of growth in wisdom, until I reach God’s restored garden, is worthy of my effort during the remainder of my life.

Jay Guin, my friend since his childhood, recently raised the disturbing question of why the older some Christians become, the less they project the reflection of Jesus. If that is true—and shame on me for my human judgment—the lesson for me is to make every effort to avoid that end state. I want to grow in wisdom, not in foolishness.

God’s wise man of proverbs is a personification of himself. Like love, I can never be the source of wisdom. Wisdom is not of my own making. It can only come from God because that is who God is—God Wise.

What are your reflections? Let me hear from you. Gary Sorrells