I find the acquisition and/or practice of wisdom a great mystery. We are told throughout the Proverbs and elsewhere in scripture that we can ask for wisdom and it will be granted. In this way, it is a gift. And yet, clearly, wisdom is also wrapped up in experience and the ability to translate understanding into application.
Wisdom built her house; . . .
“Come, eat my food,
and drink the wine I have mixed.
Abandon your simplistic ways and live;
walk in the way of understanding.” [Proverbs 9:1, 5-6, CEB]
I have asked for wisdom but I confess, I don’t have the patience to wade through its giving. I am unwilling to accept that the process of gaining wisdom may be more similar to building a house or cultivating a garden. Both take time. And energy. And persistence. Both take the gifts of God (materials and weather) as well as the participation and knowledge of the builder.
Wisdom may be a gift but it is useless until it is unwrapped and used. And only in its use, does wisdom flourish.
Meditations from Zion 
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