Time to Wise UP!

I do all kinds of things that I know I ‘shouldn’t’ do.

Fact: Today, on a certain level, I knew that I shouldn’t try to replumb the gas lines of our restaurant kitchen and install a new commercial six-burner range in the middle of the day, while we were open. I did that anyway.

The reason why I ‘shouldn’t have done that was obvious. It took waaaay longer than expected. We almost didn’t have it all reconnected in time for the dinner shift. We could have made a lot of people very very mad! Also, It caused me to question my own sanity several times.

Overall though, it did work out and transformed a normal boring afternoon into an exciting game of beat the clock! When we were just lighting the new pilot light on the oven and throwing in a batch of potatoes to cook, it was 4:00 on the dot.

That was something I shouldn’t have attempted at all, today. (Monday, when we are closed, would have been much much much much much smarter)

Anyways – there are lots of actions I take, that I shouldn’t. There are thoughts I dwell on, that I shouldn’t. There are confrontations that I avoid, that I shouldn’t. There are exercises that I don’t do and meals that I do do, that I shouldn’t…

You get the picture, right?

I’m amazed by true wisdom. I love hearing stories about ancient inventions and discoveries. The Bible is an awesome source for ideas that resonate deep within, that my own mind couldn’t conceive itself. Every week I enjoy the podcasts from Rabbi Daniel Lapin. He uncovers the hidden true meanings woven into the Hebrew language and the words of the Old Testament.

Recently I’ve been watching a series on Netflix about The Story of Maths. There, the host walks through the earliest recorded instances of numbers and their interplay. He shows the points at which it seems somebody first came up with methods of expressing quantities and measurements in character form. He shows the birthplace of concepts like the 1-9 numbering system, algebra, geometry and the origin of zero. There were people, in history who began using negative numbers, when none existed before.

Did all the wisdom of our world arrive thousands of years ago? Is there any left for us today? I don’t seem to possess much of it. No, really, I am dumbfounded by the volume and complexity of cultures and civilizations from world history. Long ago, humans were on the leading edge of such monumental concepts as the births of math, literature and architecture. In an un-electrified world, without means of instant mass communication, there were souls who were such an intense conduit for God’s word that somehow we are still reading their writing today.

Not one person alive in two thousand years will ever come across my blog pages, I’m certain!

In fact, today’s world seems to be depleted of wisdom, of adventurous invention, of real spiritual presence even. Of the generations living today, what is our legacy to leave to future? Not our kids or grandkids, but a couple hundred centuries from now? Will they look at us, as the pioneers on the leading edge of technology? We’d probably like to think so. But really, there are ancient structures existing right now, that we cannot claim to be able to replicate.

Will they think we existed in a dark age, before enlightenment returned again, in its cycle. Will they admire anything of note we accomplish, that benefits them then? I hope it’s not some disgusting perfection of the art of consumerism. I pray that we don’t just inspire only ever greater household gadgetry. Our timestamp will be on the beginning of the world of electronic communication devices. These mindsucking parasites do eat our consciousness away, and excrete it into a virtual space for our own personal pleasure. Is that really a positive breakthrough, to be proud of?

The wisdom of God, is woven into the fabric of the universe itself. It existed first, actually.

Wisdom herself, speaks to us, through Proverbs in the 8th chapter:

before his deeds of old;
23 I was formed long ages ago,
at the very beginning, when the world came to be.
when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,
26 before he made the world or its fields
or any of the dust of the earth.
27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,
29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.
30     Then I was constantly[e] at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.

So why do we still struggle to even acknowledge this wisdom exists, let alone follow it? Why do we actually posses the fruits of so many before us, yet squander them? Why do I literally know, the where to find the keys to my life, yet choose to keep God’s book closed almost every day?

Well, this is a mystery I won’t solve today. You see, I do things that I know I shouldn’t do. I am like, an expert, at doing that. I don’t want my personal legacy to be one, all about choosing to ignore the magnitude of the wisdom in front of me. That is a fear that could serve me well. I hope today, to find reason to believe that we too, can be groundbreakers and cosmonauts and lightning rods struck by the Holy Spirit.

Maybe the pages of history can have a place for us too, etched deeply and boldly with stories we will be proud of.

Until next week, God Bless You My Friends


Aaron Nichols

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