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“My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life for many years and bring you prosperity.”  – Proverbs 3:1-2 

“A father, being on the point of death, wished to be sure that his sons would give the same attention to his farm as he himself had given it.  He called them to his bedside and said, ‘My sons, there is a great treasure hid in one of my vineyards.’  The sons, after his death, took their spades and mattocks and carefully dug over every portion of their land.  They found no treasure, but the vines repaid their labor by an extraordinary and superabundant crop.”  – from Aesop’s fables 

Knowledge is a good thing.  But there is a vast difference between “knowledge” (having the facts) and “wisdom” (applying those facts to life).  In other words, we may amass knowledge, but without wisdom, knowledge is useless.  We must learn to “live out” what we know.  The father in the fable understood the facts of farming; for example, that vigorous tilling of the soil would produce an abundant harvest.  But it was only through his wisdom that he was able to convey this knowledge to his sons in such a way that they in turn would “live it out” and perpetuate his legacy.

“Wise refers to skill in living,” explains Eugene Peterson in his book Earth and Altar.  “It does not mean, primarily, the person who knows the right answers to things but one who has developed the right responses (relationships) to persons, to God.  The wise understand how the world works; know about patience and love, listening and grace, adoration and beauty; know that other people are awesome creatures to be respected and befriended . . . know that God is an ever present center, a never-diminishing reality, an all encompassing love . . .”

We are often encouraged to be life-long learners, and rightly so.  But more importantly we should strive to become life-long seekers of wisdom – in how to “live out” the knowledge we attain with greater understanding and deeper meaning.

“My son, do not forget my teaching,” the Proverb reminds us, “but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life for many years and bring you prosperity.”  For, Aesop adds, “. . . there is a great treasure hid in one of my vineyards.” 

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me. . . “

–          Philippians 3:14

About thirty years ago I took up the sport of running.  At first it was intended simply as an exercise program to get myself in better shape, and for stress relief from a high-pressure job.  But after a while it began to turn into more of a competitive sport, not so much versus other runners as competition against myself, constantly striving to increase my pace, distance and endurance.  And for several years I did just that.  Then at some point sore knees, hips, feet and back began to take its toll – not to mention age – and pace, distance and endurance went into a gradual decline.  Yet, despite that, after all these years I’ve stayed with it, motivated mostly by the need to keep myself in shape.  But it’s not so much fun anymore, primarily because my body suffers more and more pain.

Several months ago, I began substituting cycling occasionally to give my body a break from the pain of running.  Then I began to realize how much fun it was, and found myself substituting cycling more and more frequently.  One day it occurred to me that my newly discovered sport was not only pain free, but unlike my running which has been on the decline for several years, bicycling was progressing.  Here I am in my late sixties, and despite my age, the pace, distance and endurance of my new exercise program is on the increase.  That revelation has renewed my passion for sport and exercise.

There is a world of difference, they say, between activity and progress.  Running for me had been reduced to an activity that was in decline; while with bicycling I have regained the excitement of what it feels like to be making progress – a world of difference.

There is sort a of mantra among those of us engaged in the profession of executive coaching, that we are committed to being lifetime learners, and to encourage our clients to do the same.  That is to say, ours is a profession of promoting progress.  “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me. . .,” the Apostle Paul wrote – notably from a prison cell!  There his ministry could have fallen into a state of decline.  Instead, even in prison Paul found ways to remain steadfast in progressing with his work, like writing an encouraging letter to the Philippians.  So can we, even if it’s something as simple as switching from running to biking.

“. . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

–          Colossians 3:12 

George Eliot, renowned English novelist and poet, once issued a great challenge.  “What do we live for,” she asked, “if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”

There is this elderly couple, both in their nineties, who live down the street from us.  Several months ago, the poor lady fell in her yard one morning while getting the newspaper and was unable to get up.  Another neighbor who happened to see the incident rushed to her aid and got her back into her house.  Fortunately, except for being a little traumatized, she was not injured.  Upon learning about this, my wife Tee, while on her morning walks with our dog, began to pick up the couple’s paper each morning and place it next to their front door.  This routine continued for several months until all of a sudden some other anonymous, caring neighbor started doing the same thing before she got there.  Now, I don’t know this for a fact, but I think it may well have been Tee’s kind act that had inspired someone else to do likewise, creating sort of a ripple effect.

In this age of instantaneous social and mainstream media, we are bombarded by a barrage of news, most of it bad, impacting millions of people – natural disasters, drugs, crime, threats of attack by terrorists and other enemies, disease, human injustice, and dysfunctions within our own political system.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I become overwhelmed by this, paralyzed from doing anything because my meager actions wouldn’t matter anyway, at least not enough to make a difference.  Wrong!  I can make a difference.  I can do things like what my wife has done for our sweet neighbors down the street.  And we never know what kind of ripple effect that might inspire; for as Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

“. . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” St. Paul reminds us.  Or as that lovely poem by Emily Dickinson says, “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or Cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin, Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.”  Indeed, “what do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”  – Luke 12:25 

Imagine this, four friends are flying together in a small single-engine plane headed on a weekend fishing trip.  Suddenly, about half way to their destination the engine sputters and dies.  After several failed attempts to restart the engine the pilot reaches under his seat and retrieves the plane’s one-and-only parachute which he then straps on.  As he is pushing the door open to bail out he turns to his friends and announces, “You fellows stay here, I’m going to see if I can get some help.”

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life,” Mark Twain once said, “most of which never happened.”  Or as someone once put it, “Don’t tell me worrying doesn’t work.  Everything I worry about never happens.”

My college years occurred during the very height of the Vietnam War, so except for college deferments which inevitably ended upon graduation young men my age faced a high probability of being drafted into the military — or such was the conventional fear.  For those of us who got caught up in such beliefs it felt as if death had a noose around our necks.  Worry!!  And all that worry ever did for me was to change me, for a time, from being an excellent student with high ambitions to a fatalistic mediocre one — but only for a time.  Eventually I did serve in the military, I’m proud to say, and lived to tell about it.  And eventually my ambitions returned, most of which have come to fruition plus some.  Most of the things I worried about never happened.  And the time I spent worrying, all that did was to set me back from pursuing my ambitions.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”  What about those three fishing buddies abandoned by their pilot friend (friend?!!)?  What about me back in my college days?  And what about you?  How has worrying added to your life?  How has it added to the quality of your life?  How much of what you have worried about has ever even happened?  “Do not be afraid, little flock,” Jesus assures us, “for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”  What more can we ask for than that?  And with that as a promise, what are we so worried about?

“‘Everything is permissible’ — but not everything is beneficial.  ‘Everything is permissible’ — but not everything is constructive.  Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” – 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 

Did you ever step on the gas to get through an intersection just before the light turns red?  I have, more times than I can count.  There are typically two thoughts that occur in our minds when we do this that justify our actions: (a) my time is too valuable to sit through a red light, and (b) I didn’t really break the law.  We just seem to forget one thing, in our big rush, who including ourselves might we have placed in harm’s way?

During my days managing a bond trading unit for a large investment firm, my least favorite responsibility was having to be a policeman, ensuring that everyone complied with the laws and regulations pertaining to bond transactions.  Sounds simple enough, as most regulations are fairly straightforward; except, there’s this one certain rule in securities law known as “fair practice” that requires brokerage firms to go beyond simply what is legal, and further ensure doing what is right for the client.  As you can imagine, this rule creates some gray areas that become subjective and more difficult to enforce.

In defense of my former colleagues in that industry, the vast majority were good honest professionals who took seriously what was in the best interest of their clients.  But then there were those few who dared to push the envelope for the sake of their own commissions, and who, like speeding through an intersection before the light turns red, defended their actions by arguing that they “didn’t really break the law.”

In his famous Sermon on the Mount Jesus went to great lengths in explaining the deeper meaning of the Laws, that is the Ten Commandments.  “You have heard it said . . .,” he would begin about a particular law.  “Do not murder . . .,” for example.  “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment,” he would explain.  It’s more than just staying within the boundaries of the law, in other words, it’s the condition of your heart toward others that matters most.  For everything is permissible if it is lawful, but that doesn’t mean it is beneficial or constructive.  According to the Apostle Paul, “Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”  Should that not always be the litmus test in determining whether we’re doing the right thing?