Wisdom is Like Grits
School is out. "No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks..." I heard the last
day of school at South Central was marked by screaming, yelling and cheering, bells, whistles,
cartwheels in the halls...and that was the TEACHERS! I am not here to talk to graduates today or
even to reflect on the end of another school year, but if I were, I could not choose a better subject
for my remarks than the lectionary reading for today - wisdom:
Today is Trinity Sunday, the one Sunday in the entire year set aside to focus on, not an important
event, but an important doctrine. A confusing doctrine? From some people I’ve talked to, it
appears to be. The late Cardinal Cushing said that, when he was a parish priest, he was
summoned to a store to give last rites to a man who had collapsed. Following the custom of his
church, he knelt by the man and asked, "Do you believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit?" Then, the Cardinal said, the man roused a little, opened one eye, and said,
"Here I am dying and you ask me a riddle?" For some the concept does seem to be a riddle. How
can this work? The best way I can explain it is to use H2O.
You have ice, water, and steam. What is ice? Frozen water. What is steam? Water in vapor form.
Water is, well, water in liquid form. . They are all H2O, just in different forms. So I like to say
that God is ice, Jesus is water, and the Holy Spirit is steam. All three the same, just in a different
form.
So how did the church come up with this doctrine? It is not spelled out anywhere. Nowhere in
scripture do we even find the word TRINITY. But as we read and study the Bible, we meet God
in three persons...Father, Son, Spirit...each distinct, yet different. The church could have decided
that this means we deal with three different Gods, but further reflection said NO to that - just
ONE God whom we know in three different ways. It was a WISE conclusion. That is probably
one of the reasons the church chose its Old Testament reading from Proverbs on this Trinity
Sunday, part of the so-called WISDOM literature. This took WISDOM.
Now we must realize that intelligence is not the same as wisdom. Let me explain it this way: A
minister, a Boy Scout, and a computer expert were the only passengers on a small plane. The
pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only three
parachutes and four people. The pilot added, “I should have one of he parachutes because I have
a wife and three small children.” So he took one and jumped. The computer whiz said, “I should
have one of the parachutes because I am the smartest man in the world and everyone needs me.”
So he took one and jumped. The minister turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said,
“You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go
down with the plane.” The boy Scout said, “Relax, Pastor, the smartest man in the world just
picked up my knapsack and jumped out!
At this point I think it would be a good idea to define just what we mean by wisdom. Webster’s
defines it as understanding what is true, right or lasting. Good judgment. Wisdom is more than a
high IQ. Around here we call it common sense or horse sense. In the original language of the
Bible, wisdom was understood as skill. The word that we translate as wisdom described the
ability of craftsmen and seasoned mariners. They were thought of as wise or skilled in their
abilities. Counselors and administrators were judged by the skill they exhibited in their advice.
Auto maker Henry Ford asked electrical genius Charlie Steinmetz to build the generators for his
factory. One day the generators ground to a halt, and the repairmen couldn’t find the problem. So
Ford called Steinmetz, who tinkered with the machines for a few hours and then threw the
switch. The generators came to life—but Ford got a bill for $10,000 from Steinmetz. The
tightfisted car maker screamed about the bill being so high.
Steinmetz’s reply: For tinkering with the generators, $10. For knowing where to tinker, $9,990.
Ford paid the bill.
I remember when I went to camp years ago. We had fun. We played softball, went swimming,
canoeing, played basketball, tennis, had campfires, basically we had fun. Parents sent kids to
camp to have fun, and maybe ,more importantly, to give parents a break from their kids.
Nowadays parents send their kids to camp in the summer, but the expectation is that the camp
should teach the child a skill. They can go to computer camp, for instance, and become more
adept at using computers. And there’s soccer camp, equestrian camp, mountaineering camp, and
so forth.
The book of Proverbs is about gaining skills as well. In the early chapters, we read of a father
teaching his son, which we’ve expanded in our thinking to include mothers and daughters. It is
about one generation passing on the skills of living life to the next generation.
I like to think of wisdom as skillful living, or at least the ability to understand the way that life
works. To me that is wisdom. Wisdom is the skill that lets you know how much freedom to give
your teenager. Wisdom is the skill that allows you to handle money. To be loose enough to enjoy
spending it while being prudent enough to save some. Wisdom is the skill to understand your
spouse. Wisdom is being prepared.
A young man applied for a job as a farmhand. When asked for his qualifications, he said, "I can
sleep when the wind blows." This puzzled the farmer, but he took a liking to the young man and
hired him. A few days later, the farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent
storm. They quickly began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the
shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had been set next to
the fireplace. The farm implements had been placed in the storage shed, safe from the elements.
The tractor had been moved into the garage. The barn had been properly locked. All was well.
Even the animals were calm. It was then that the farmer grasped the meaning of the young man’s
words, "I can sleep when the wind blows." Because the farmhand had the wisdom to do his work
well when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it broke. Consequently,
when the wind blew, he had no fear. He was able to sleep in peace.
What would you ask for if you could have anything in the world? What would be the one thing
that added to your life, would impact your life the greatest? What would you say? Money?
Power? For those with small children maybe peace (and quiet). Some want popularity or
prestige.
You know that actually happened once. King Solomon was given such a choice by God.
God told King Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted and God would provide it. God basically
gave Solomon a signed, blank check for Solomon to purchase in a sense whatever he wanted.
Solomon asked for wisdom and it was granted to him. But wisdom was only the beginning. In
Solomon’s lifetime he would accumulate greater riches than anyone imagined. He was sought
out by royalty. His popularity and reputation spread throughout the world. His kingship was a
time of great security and peace. And it all started with wisdom.
Sometimes wisdom is like grits. Yes, grits. A fellow traveling one time stopped by a mom & pop
restaurant for breakfast. He ordered the special without reading carefully, only to be surprised by
this huge white mass on his plate when the food was served. "What’s this?" he asked. "Grits,"
replied the waitress. "I ordered eggs, bacon, and toast," said the traveler. "No matter," said the
waitress, "they just come."
Wisdom is like grits. It just comes.
You see, experience comes from what we have done. Wisdom comes from what we have done
badly. So when we do something badly, we can learn from that, gain wisdom from that situation.
We are always going to get in those situations where we can gain wisdom. All your book
learning and all your studying and all your schooling will give knowledge. But wisdom is
knowledge beyond the classroom. Where does it come from?
Jesus was teaching at the Feast of Tabernacles. The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this
man get such learning without having studied?” Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It
comes from him who sent me.” God offers wisdom to all who desire it. We receive wisdom
when we seek it’s source, God. It’s all part of the “special” that God offers us when we seek
Him. Wisdom is like grits. It just comes.
