…..but if you try sometimes you may find, you get what you need! —-Keith Richards and Mick Jagger.

A few days ago, my son and I were at the local playground and he wanted me to play tag and other games with him. I played with him for a while but my book was calling to me as something that needed my attention too.

He was sad and disappointed and I asked my son to use his words to tell me how he felt. He told me that he wishes he was like a family he saw on YouTube that puts out a lot of videos that had more than one child and that had cats and dogs to keep them company. This made me really sad too. It made me sad because I wish he could have brothers and sisters and a dog. However, due to forces beyond my control, that is not possible. I really struggled. I wanted to tell him something that would ease his pain and make everything all right. But I couldn’t. I did not know what to say.

So I prayed and I had this wisdom to give him:

“You know we all see things on TV and on the internet and in our friends and other families that we want and like. And it is not bad to want things. However, we need to be content with what we have and the limitations of what life brings us, while at the same time, trying to get what we want.”

 I know that I was trying to fix the situation instead of just listening. Next time, I will try harder to just listen. But I think that what I said had some merit too and that it contained some wisdom given from up-above.

I think that we all are disappointed with the limitations that we are given to some extent at one time or another. I know that I am. I want a million dollars without working for it and I want things that are broken in my life to work. I want, I want, I want. Life is a never-ending struggle to fulfill desires and wants and what we think are needs.

One of the biggest tenets of Buddhism’s definition of enlightenment is the cessation of all desire–except the desire to be enlightened! To acquire that Buddhists say, you must first acquire wisdom.

Wisdom is highly prized in our Judeo-Christian tradition too! One website gave 36 verses about wisdom (https://dailyverses.net/wisdom)! The Bible is full of verses about wisdom and talks very little about talent and knowledge.

Wisdom seems to be a very elusive thing in today’s society. A lot of people have knowledge and a lot of people have talent, but not a lot of people know how to use both of those in a wise way. Not many people know how to use both in a way that makes sense and that looks to the future and that is beneficial to both oneself and one’s family and one’s community.  No one runs after wisdom. Wisdom is not sexy.

Here is a link to an article from the New York Times (believe it or not) with the title of  13 Bible Verses Every Small Business Owner Needs for 2013 (still relevant today).

My personal favorite is the verse about committing your way to the Lord so that he will direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6, not in the list).

The good news is that the Lord rewards those who seek His wisdom and knows the desires of our heats. You do not have to be like me and get wisdom the way hard, through lots of mistakes!

Seek it and you will find what you need! 

Proverbs 1:7 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools^a despise wisdom and instruction.

and

Daniel 2:23  “I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you, you have made known to us the dream of the king.”

————————————————————-W.