When I turn to you, will you be there?

Our reflection today is from Proverbs 1: 20-33 (a bit long, but worth it!)

Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the open squares she raises her voice; Down the crowded ways she calls out, at the city gates she utters her words: "How long, you simple ones, will you love inanity, how long will you turn away at my reproof? Lo! I will pour out to you my spirit, I will acquaint you with my words.

Because I called and you refused, I extended my hand and no one took notice; Because you disdained all my counsel, and my reproof you ignored - I, in turn, will laugh at your doom; I will mock when terror overtakes you; When terror comes upon you like a storm, and your doom approaches like a whirlwind; when distress and anguish befall you. Then they call me, but I answer not; they seek me, but find me not; Because they hated knowledge and chose not the fear of the Lord; They ignored my counsel, they spurned all my reproof; And in their arrogance they preferred arrogance, and like fools they hated knowledge:

Now they must eat the fruit of their own way, and with their own devices be glutted. For the self-will of the simple kills them, the smugness of fools destroys them. But he who obeys me dwells in security, in peace, without fear of harm."

~~~

I chose this passage today beecause I identify with the arrogant preferring arrogance. Wisdom teaches us to go beyond the conventional, beyond the accepted, beyond the simply ordinary and see with clarity the invisible, the intangible, and the impossible. Wisdom is our key to taking our ordinary everyday feelings and problems and making them disappear. It is the key to greater potential, to kinder actions, warmer hearts. With wisdom we can pray for our assailants, turn fear into courage, and find the good in any bad. With wisdom we become strong in our weakness, and in dying to ourselves we become more than we ever thought possible.

How frequently though, are we challenged to take arrogance over wisdom; I know that arrogance is the easier path. I know that believing I have the answers, that I know better, that I have a solution, that I can handle my problems on my own - I know that arrogance well. I know that arrogance intimately. It is my bedfellow.

Wisdom says to me: "Oh, you arrogant fool - you choose arrogance, not because of great strength or skill, but because you fear the more difficult path of the unkown, the dangerous, and a dependency on others."

Wisdom is recognizing that no cross can be carried by one person. I hope we all find ourselves wise enough to say yes to help and arrogant enough look arrogance in the face and choose humility instead!