Wisdom is a Fruit?

Fishing might be good today we'll see. We are expecting to see big T-storms tonight.
I will make you a deal; I’ll give you some wisdom instead of gold because that is the better end of the bargain. What you don’t think so. Proverbs 8 tells us that wisdom is better than silver, gold and jewels; it is the choicest of fruit. Does that mean Yukon Cornelius should have been looking for wisdom and that wisdom is now a girl’s best friend? Wisdom dwells with prudence (defined as sound judgment) according to verse 12, I am pretty sure I have dwelt with her evil twin sisters indiscretion and rash behavior, at least when I was a younger man.
We should heed God’s words here in the eighth chapter of Proverbs, because if we do there are some great things attached to seeking wisdom. If we seek wisdom out riches, honor, righteousness, wealth and treasures not to mention being on the path of justice are sure to come. That sounds much better to me than debt, stress, ulcers, cheating and a rocky road. Have you been on the rocky road or the stress turnpike lately? We all have at some point. It seems when the road gets rough it tends to bump things into prospective and I head for the nearest exit on to the path of justice. The rocky road is a freeway, moving at 80 mph, but the path of justice is on a different speed. The Lord tells us we need to listen, watch, wait and heed instruction. The last time I checked our “world” doesn’t tend to value any of these attributes.
I remember as a boy I went with my Dad and Grandpa fishing in Wisconsin. We were out in a small boat enjoying the evening when the fish started to bite. As I watched my Dad he was focused on the big bass that was feeding on the edge of the lily-pads, Grandpa was just sitting there watching the bluegill suck the small bugs off the surface of the water, but I was going nuts constantly throwing my line out and then retrieving even before the bluegill had a chance to make that popping sound as they take the bait. I asked Grandpa, “Why are you just sitting there not trying to catch all these fish.” He replied “I have caught a lot of fish in my life and I am enjoying seeing you take your turn at catching a lot of fish.” I don’t remember how many fish I caught that night, but I do remember big beautiful green bass with the cavernous mouth and the smile on Grandpa’s face as Dad hooked that bass.
I don’t know if life is like fishing or not but now that I am pushing forty and have caught a lot of fish I understand my Grandpa’s wisdom in waiting and watching. He was blessed to see his son and grandson enjoy God’s Creation. Maybe this passage in Proverbs is not about fishing but about those attributes of listening, watching, waiting and heeding instruction. If I would not have done those things when my Dad taught me to fish and if he hadn’t done them when his Dad taught him to fish, then there would have been no fish, no blessing that night so many summers ago.
God promises us if we do these things we will be blessed. We will find favor with the Lord. The choice is yours; live life with your limited wisdom or watch, wait, listen and take heed to the Lord’s instruction and find favor with your heavenly Father.

Wisdom from??? Proverbs 1

Fishing has been a little slow. Nearly 9 inches of rain since June 1. WOW the streams all look like chocolate milk.
What is wisdom? Is wisdom the advice you received from an elderly woman in your church that said “Don’t have a cat in the house it will steal the baby’s breathe”? Or is it the old-timer that showed you how to use a hand scythe? Maybe it is when your dad let you try chewing tobacco the first time making sure that he knew you would never do it again; or was it your mom giving you a “Dapper Dan” so that you could tie your own shoes and button your shirt?
Proverbs tells us wisdom goes hand in hand with discipline. Both wisdom and discipline lead us to be prudent, right, just and fair. Those things all sound like what I would want to have in my life.
But wait a minute; do we seek these things out? I remember a story of a young boy that when his friends came around the place and said “Hey let’s go swim down in the river”. Now he knew his Daddy told him he couldn’t swim in the river. It was hot that day and he decided he would just go cool off, so he snuck away and “cooled off”. Arriving home there was no hiding the fact he had been to the swimming hole, Dad was not happy and expressed his disappointment on the boy’s backside! Well the summer continued and those same boys came back around bidding the boy to come the river, promising him that he would be dry before his Dad got home. This time the little guy thought better of his Dad’s instruction and stayed on the farm, those other boys left and never made it home, they drown.
Sin is sexy, tasty, enticing and ever tempting. How easy it is to slip away and eat that decadent dessert, watch that video on YouTube, everyone is talking about when no one is at home, or slip that high tech gadget into your pocket at the super-store? On the surface some of these things might not seem bad; sugary desserts aren’t bad unless you’re a diabetic, videos aren’t bad unless it is unwholesome. How do you decide? Proverbs tells us that if we stray into trouble, God will laugh at your disaster; God will mock you when you have a calamity. Strong words from the Almighty God. As I look at this passage I am amazed that I missed that, God will laugh at me if I made a poor choice, because I did not seek His wisdom. I surely don’t want to stand in His presence and hear Him mock me because I ignored His wisdom. Where is His wisdom? His Word is where His Wisdom is found. Are you looking to His Word to gain wisdom for daily living or are you looking to your pastor, your coworker in the next cube, maybe the bald guy on PBS? So as you seek wisdom in His Word instead of the “word” on Facebook notice the difference in your week. Be sure to share your experience with us.

Smallies, Bees, Turkey and Chickens

Fishing is great! The boys hammered the Smallies last Sunday afternoon. Fergus and Virgil have been called to adventure and have begun fishing Spur Creek. What great fun and the smile or should I say the light on their faces is impressive when they are holding a smallie by the lip standing waist deep in a clear stream. The bite is on and even Dad is going to get into the fray tomorrow, the boys I grew up with having the same kind of adventures as my boys are having are coming up to fish the BW. I don’t think we will have the same sense of awe and wonderment as my boys have but I get we will enjoy make new memories and reliving old ones. It is funny we have all grown older and taken different paths but I get the sense we are all looking forward to getting our lines wet just as much as we did when we were boys. The reasons are different, I can escape a cube and all that is Research, D. can escape academia and M. well he will enjoy a day away from the “grind”. I am not sure where the years went or where I lost my why of what is important but my boys and JB (my daughter) have helped me recapture how it can be exciting to go to a little stream and “explore” all the possibilities that might be just around the bend. I could go on about how God has called us to live an adventure, just like John Eldridge tells us, but I won’t because we all know it we just ignore it. Maybe not all the time but most of the life we have developed for ourselves is that of the day to day struggle to get back and forth to work and kids activities not catching the big one or hiking to the other ridge in the distance. After watching my kids I want to grab the wife and with the kids in tow hike to the far off ridge or float the stretch of water we have never seen.

My daughter has inspired me that it is not just the target of the hunt but the experience. We turkey hunted about a week ago saw a few birds, heard a gobble or two but no bird in the bag. She was sad but then saw a family of geese with the little ones waddling behind. That scene of the geese was what she told everybody about, but don’t think she isn’t a hunter, after seeing the geese she asked when we could go back and kill them. She sees the beauty in nature but likes the taste better. She is quite the little girl and a good sport to boot.

Last item: Bees and chickens at once. We went over to a friends’ (Dr. Phil’s) to pick up some half grown chickens and why we were there the neighbor hollered over at us about a bunch of bees. I told Fergus to load up the chickens and let’s go. We ran home unloaded birds, loaded beehive bodies, hurried back and caught up a big swarm. I guess this swarm probably had 12,000 bees, it was a big one. We trimmed the limbs back, the good Dr cut the main branch off while I held on and then we put it in the hive and that is that. Bees in a new home. A busy last few weeks.