Can you define the word “love” in one word? How about the word “wisdom”? It is impossible to do. But: I’ll bet you could tell me a story, from your own experience or one your parents told you, that expresses the meaning of wisdom perfectly. Jesus tells a story about wise girls who remembered to bring oil, and foolish girls who didn’t—so they were locked out of the party!
Finding wisdom can be tricky. Oprah, Dr. Phil and the other tv celebrities do their best, but there is something unreal about how audiences clap and cheer as they hear many feel-good stories. All of Jesus’ audiences didn’t cheer wildly when he called them to a deeper wisdom. Even his closest followers were scandalized or resentful at times. As parents know--wisdom is not always greeted with gratitude and open arms. The real and deeper wisdom is always religious, because it is the role of religion to tie everything together.
The ultimate wisdom is: to know we’re not God. And then, never to act like we’re God. Usually people’s eyes are opened through a relationship of truth and love. When we learn that love is the reason for living, then sacrifice and giving comes naturally. Then your eyes are opened, and you see the whole creation as beautiful, and caught up in God’s love.
Real wisdom shows us that preparation, taking the deeper, broader look, is crucial. So we take the time to exercise real discernment before deciding things, to ask more questions, and let God be God in us. All of the virgins fell asleep, but the wise ones were prepared before sleep!
So dive deep in life, and stay close to the Lord… because deep authentic prayer leads us to deep authentic wisdom.