Why don't we teach Wisdom anymore?

Why is it that public education emphasizes teaching information and not wisdom?

Many cultures still value wisdom, America does not seem to be one of them. Children are taught dates, events, facts, names, numbers, and words.

What happened to teaching right and wrong?

What happened to good and evil?

What happened to how to live well?

What happened to virtue? Why shouldn't a child learn about honesty, justice, chastity, wisdom, prudence, compassion, benevolence, forgiveness, goodness?

If you look up virtue here's what you find in an American Encyclopedia, virtue: extinct when it was discovered there are no exclusive truths to base good upon.

In our society, due to our inability to recognize anything as true, we have paralyzed our ability to be wise as a nation. Our children learn vices rather than virtues. They are taught sloth, lust, gluttony, jealousy, and greed. They sit and watch media that promote such vices and have no exposure to virtue with which to combat.

How is it that we have agreed as a society to promote vices, but we find ourselves unable to teach virtues because there is no standard, no truth upon which to base such a teaching about virtues? I mean, who's virtues would you use? You can't use the Christians virtues because of the Muslims. You can't use the Muslim's virtues because of the Christians. And oh don't forget the Buddhists. Then, how can we agree to promote vices through the popular media? Who made that call and I find it offensive because they have chosen a worldview and standard that idealizes vices :) Obviously, someone has determined a standard, which is no standard and no virtues, only vices are acceptable curriculum?

Why don't we teach Wisdom anymore?

We wonder at the state of America when we flip on Jerry Springer, Montel, People's Court, Cops, or Bridezilla's and why in the world there are so many people that do not seem to have any noticeable wisdom. We chalk it up to the shows paying people to act like they are idiots and putting a show on, but I hate to burst your bubble I don't think its an act.

Why don't we teach Wisdom anymore?

I think people were wiser when they didn't have television. I think people were wiser when they lived off the land, looked at the stars at night, and made a life in their community. Sure, they didn't know all the information we do today, but what good does information do if you have no truth, if you loose mankind? Mankind has a history available to draw out virtues, to draw out truth. Mankind is not mankind if he does not exercise his mind to decipher what is good. For those who deny what is good, they rob man of his soul.

The Cross in All

What's the secret to a happy marriage? The Cross
What's the secret to a deep, life-changing conversation? The Cross
What's the secret to serving others? The Cross
What's the secret to holiness? The Cross
What's the secret to deep friendships? The Cross
What's the secret to positive working relationships? The Cross
What's the secret to listening? The Cross

You might say, "You simply apply the Cross as your answer to everything, how can this be?" "You assert the Cross as some mindless blanket statement for everything."

I would answer, "It simply is."

Think about it.

For a successful marriage relationship, one must die to self and look out for the interest of the other in God.

For a successful conversation where someone is listened to, one must remove self-interest from the conversation and allow the other person to express what needs to come off their heart. Meanwhile, the listener searches for guidance by the Holy Spirit.

For deep friendships, its about them, not us.

For progress in the spiritual life, its about God, not us.

The Cross can be seen as the ever-present reality of successful living.

The Cross, everywhere I look, I see the Cross.

Tending to the physically sick

Healing takes place in the midst of intention and community.

Intention in that you purposefully withdraw your own desires and needs for a conversation and allow a person to open up and share their feelings and fears. We should recognize this tendency to be "selfish" in our conversations with others. Rather than truly listening, we are jumping ahead to what we want to share.

Those in pain are the ones who need to share and we should be intentional with "dying to self" or "withdrawing our own needs" from a conversation.

Community in that you walk through the pain with them. You need not offer answers or attempt to make false promises. When in the valley of the shadow, one needs to walk through it. Disguising the vally does not make it go disappear.

They need to know we are there, we love them, and we will walk with them through this ordeal.

(Thanks to Henri Nouwen for many insights from, The Wounded Healer)

Morals

I wonder if you could have a graph displaying the decreasing standards of television/media content over the past fifty years, if there would be a direct corelation with decreasing moral standards of Americans over the same time-frame?

Can you hear Truth?

Can you hear?
Can you see?
Can you touch and taste?
When truth is spoken, is it a sweet sound?
When truth is revealed is it a beautiful piece of art?

When intelligence is obvious,
when design is apparent,
when "I think therefore I am,"
when we find ourselves in limited control
of this planet,
do we hear?
What do we see?

How hardened is the heart?
How dead is the soul?
That truth echoes back,
but does not take root.

How blind the eyes?
How deaf the ears?
When nature explains,
when flowers cry out!

How sweet an opportunity,
how precious the time,
"Go and reproduce."
"Go and rule and subdue."
You will be like Me,
You will rule.
You will rule this pile of dirt.

So go now,
go and listen to your heart,
go and embrace love,
go and freely take and freely give,
"I will not manipulate you."
"I will not force you."
"Go now."
Enjoy.

How good You are to us,
How You make us in Your image,
To rule, to have free will,
in small ways You have made us
Like You.

But it seems many think You are gone,
or that You never were.
That this is accident,
That we are slightly more intelligent than ooze.

Some think the body,
what they see,
is all there is,
their motto, "to live for the now."

But if they would stop,
and listen.
Your voice remains,
Truth can be heard.
You came.
You spoke.
You died.
You did not mean this to be
confusion,
or mystery.
So, You spoke.

And it was true.

"In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:4-5).

The darkness understands:
more hate
more war
more money
more fighting
more anger
more killing
more oppressing
more tearing people down
more wealth
more technology
more houses
more cell phones
more televisions
more books
more self-help
more loneliness
more brokenness
more entertainment
more delusion
more fantasy
more drugs
more denial.

The light understands:
purpose
glory
faith
hope
and Love.
More sharing
more giving
more holiness
more building people up
more serving
more joy
more fulfillment
more family
more strangers
more justice
more healing
more acknowledgement of God.

The Negatives - Easier to See than Positives

It is so easy to focus on the negatives of the Christian faith and miss the positives. We prohibit actions, and we create a list of don'ts. We tend to focus on what is illegal or outlawed or against God's Law. Don't cheat, don't lie, don't commit adultery, don't be an addict to whatever, don't say that, or don't think this.

These are the easy things to identify. Our conscience testifies about these heinous acts.

What about all the positive actions of things we should be doing. Things that we missed. We were too busy there and self-absorbed here. We should have loved and offered kind words to that young kid. We should have been focused on showering attention on a loved one instead of attending to our list of do's for the day. We should have enjoyed a laugh with a friend instead of holding to our agenda of what we would rather be doing. We should have reached out instead of avoiding someone who offended us. We should have loved others instead of loving ourselves. We should have smiled and appreciated instead of being annoyed with our children.

You see. We focus on the negatives more than we realize all the positive aspects of Christianity that pass us by moment-by-moment.

Christianity is not a bunch of negatives. Why should anyone want to be a Christian if all they see are people holding to some moral code, some "list of don'ts?" Love is not a "list of don'ts." We have things messed up in our minds if negatives, the don'ts, are all that we see in Christ.

Having walked with the Lord for five years now, I am finding the negatives much easier to identify. What I fear are the positives which I have missed. I should have been present in more situations. Physical presence does not always necessitate spiritual presence. I should have been present "in the spirit" in more situations. I should have been focused on the Kingdom in more situations. I should have been more focused on loving, encouraging, being the hands and feet of Jesus wherever I went physically. I need to be consistently abiding in Christ as I walk around.

How many are the opportunities to love, that I have missed? How many touching moments from God in friendship, mentorship, or family-building have I not experienced? How many times have I walked past a situation God wanted me to experience something deep and enriching but because of my lack of spiritual awareness I walked past? Love is not so clearly defined as a list of rules to follow. Love comes moment-by-moment and it presents itself quietly and peacefully. Love opens its arms and invites us to come and experience it. Will we see it? Will we be aware? The postitives of Christianity of which love is one are not as clear as the negatives that trample the conscience. We need to be finely tuned to the movings of the Holy Spirit, this is the only way to enter into Love.

May God enligthen us to opportunities to love without them passing us by. May this happen in our families, at work, and in all our waking hours. May we be awakened to opportunities to be enouraging, uplifting, supportive, caring, showering words of kindness, taking the time to listen, letting another get what they want even if its not what we want simply because we love them.

Know Him

He is infinite . . .
His love is never-ending,
His presence is all surrounding,
His mercy is limitless,
His blessings continual,
His grace extends forever,
His power cannot be measured,
His wisdom is matchless.

He is always watching,
Always around.
Always hoping,
Always willing,
Always listening.

He enjoys creating and giving.
He enjoys giving life,
to you and I

He is worthy:

He is Everything.
Oh, how I wish to give Him something!
I wish I had something to give Him,
But I have nothing,
I am poor.
I have nothing.
Nothing, but what He himself gave me,
My life, my being, my person.
This I gladfully wish to give back to Him.
That I might in some way give Him the praise
He so rightfully deserves.

But it seems He won't let me do this.
As I attempt to turn myself over,
As I attempt to lay down my life,
He keeps giving
and giving.
I keep receiving,
deeper,
better,
peace,
blessing,
love,
joy.

But I thought I was dying to self?
I thought I was embracing a cross?
I thought duty meant boring.
I thought discipline meant mean.
I thought repentance meant no more fun.
Apparently, I didn't know whats going on here.
Apparently, God is not one to be out-given.
Apparently, God has something better in mind
than what my human reasoning would lead me
to believe about life with God;
He confirms that life with Him is life-giving,
easy,
and wonderful.

No matter how much I desire to give to You,
I stand at your mercy while You give as you please.
I stand with tears of joy bursting from my eyes
for the wonders of which you pour upon me.
I stand naked as you clothe me with treasures of
infinite worth.

I am left to cry out in my utter poverty:

"You are God Almighty,
and I have felt your love.
It is beyond the power of
my words to express what it
means to me."