Wisdom from above

After James 3:13-18 

Wisdom comes from

living in Christ, being

open to all and 

allowing the Spirit

to dwell within you.

Wisdom from above

can be identified

and defined: peace,

gentleness, listening

to others, mercy,

producing good,

impartial, sincere.

When that wisdom

is present it sows

righteousness, it sows

in peace, it produces

a great harvest.

Wisdom is not sought

as an end in itself;

wisdom happens when

it’s instilled from above.

And it’s demonstrated

by a beautiful life.

 

Photograph by Tim Wildsmith via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Sing Like You’re Saved: Overcoming Seven Obstacles to Worship – Bob Kauflin at Desiring God.

 

When Discipleship is Difficult, Start with Delight – Aaron Armstrong at Story Warren.

 

The Humbling I Needed – Melissa Edgington at Your Mom Has a Blog.

Where wisdom is not

After James 3:13-18 

If you see jealousy,

if you experience it 

yourself, you will

not find wisdom.

If you feel selfish

ambition in your heart,

a desire for glory,

recognition, praise 

of others, you will

not find wisdom.

Jealousy and selfish

ambition produce

disorder and vileness.

That’s the wisdom

of this world, unspiritual;

that’s the wisdom

of this world, demonic. 

 

Photograph by Priscilla Du Preez via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Eusebius, Early Christianity’s Historian – Michael De Sapio at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

“She Prays,” poem by Ella Higginson – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

The Distance We Keep – Michael Mellette at Mockingbird.

 

The Life God Didn’t Let You Live – Katie Kaitkep. 

The source of wisdom

After James 3:13-18 

Where does wisdom

come from? Does it

arise from years

of study and

research, from

experience, from

living day to day?

Whi is wise

among you? Is

wisdom crowdsourced?

 

Wisdom comes from

above; it’s the only

source. It’s displayed

by your conduct, by

its own meekness. It

doesn’t boast; it’s not

false to what’s true.

Wisdom comes from

outside you; it comes

from above. 

 

Photograph by Alex Shute via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Labour and Legacy – Jeremy Walker at The Wanderer.

 

Gen Z and Belonging to the Church – Alan Noble.

 

A Sonnet for Trinity Sunday – Malcolm Guite.

Need wisdom? Just ask

After James 1:5-8 

Tests and trials in our lives,

what we call the bad times,

happen, driving us to seek

wisdom to know what to do.

How do we gain the wisdom

we need? It’s simple.

 

Just ask.

 

Ask in faith, ask without

doubt; doubt has no place

in your life because

you’ve left it behind

in your old life,

you dead life.

 

Just ask.

 

Wisdom will be poured,

a fountain, a fire hose, 

a river, a downpour,

because that’s who he is. 

 

Just ask.

 

Photograph by Artem Maltsev via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“Spikenard,” poem by Laurence Housman – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

The Bible isn’t a smartphone – T.M. Suffield at Nuakh.

 

“My Soul, Repeat His Praise,” hymn by Isaac Watts – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Glorious Defeat – poem by Seth Lewis.

The age in which we live

After I Corinthians 3:18-4:5 

We live in an age where 

all claim wisdom, as if wisdom

was genetic and a birthright,

an age of foolishness counted

foolishly as wisdom, at least

according to the latest poll.

Yet it is folly, all folly, mud

drying to dust, dispersed and

blown and scattered even

by the weakest wind.

 

Slyness, passing itself off

as wisdom, is chased by,

and chases, the wind.

 

We are buffeted and blown

by the world, but we stand

firm, unmoved, knowing 

that it is not ours to judge,

but only to stand, even if

struck down, stand firm 

in knowing that the wisdom

of the world, its big data, 

is a transient thing, dying

even as it’s born.

 

Photograph by David Vines via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Looking for Workplace Wisdom: It’s Poetry at Work Day 2020

It’s Poetry at Work Day 2020, and I went looking for wisdom literature about work. Many of us have had experiences with works, jobs, employment, and bosses that might make us doubt if the word “wisdom” even belongs in the same sentence with “work.” And while we all have stories to tell, it’s clear that wisdom can be found in the workplace. One of the best pieces of advice I was given as a developing corporate speechwriter was to read the poetry of T.S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, and Dylan Thomas. These three high priests of modernist poetry offered more than their profound poetic insights and how things could be said in a speech; they offered a way of looking at and understanding the world. 

My search took me to lists of great books about business and work. Fortune has a list. CNBC has a list. Amazon has a book about the top 100 business books of all time. Bloggers have lists. I found almost as many lists of best business books as I did books. 

To continue reading, please see my post at Tweetspeak Poetry. 

The fool finds wisdom

After I Corinthians 1:20

I went looking for the wise man,

I went looking for the scholar,

I went looking of the philosopher of this age.

I found ignorance clothed in pride,

I found lecture hall masquerades,

I found a fool locked away in his cage.

Turning east, toward the sun,

I sensed the singing of my heart

I found myself growing brave.

At the bottom of a hill,

Instead of wisdom I found love,

With a stone unrolled before a grave.

Photograph by David Sutton via Unsplash. Used with permission.

A tale of two

Wisdom is from knowledge

education experience

Or bits into information into data

into big data into knowledge

into wisdom and if really wise

into a TED talk

and a guest appearance

on a late night talk show

so the world will listen

and you become famous

and wise in your own eyes,

at least, clever in your own heart,

at least, you sow and you reap

the world

bits do not equal wisdom

wisdom: pure peaceful

gentle considerate submissive

merciful fair impartial

sincere and it is sown;

the farmer harvests so that

we eat, nourished.

Photograph by George Hodan via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.