Be Wise

Not one person is born without wisdom but that does not make a person wise.

Todd Beal

♦

Wisdom is the ability to understand the best possible outcome for a particular situation and make the most appropriate decision based on that understanding.

Each one of us is born with a certain degree of natural wisdom that springs out of our inborn personality, and it usually stays with us for life. Some people naturally make wise business decisions without any training whatsoever: either formal or informal. Some people make a wise career choice without any guidance whatsoever. Some people make wise choices within their interpersonal relationships regardless of upbringing or lack of psychological training. We each have the natural ability to make wise choices in those areas of life with which the strong points of our personality most naturally resonate.

For instance, I may possess an abundance of natural mechanical ability and love to restore old muscle cars. I may also possess an abundance of natural business sense with a love for buying low and selling high; it revs my motor. Each time I go to an old car auction, I combine these two natural abilities to make the wisest purchase for maximizing my future profit. I choose an area of the country where old muscle cars are either in low demand or their value is relatively unknown, then buy a beaten down old Stingray and restore it to its original pristine condition. I then research for the best location within the United States where that particular car is most desired and its value is most well-known. I make the trip to that show and sell the car for a huge profit, all without any formal training in either business or mechanics. Each one of us does this in our own way in those areas of life for which we are both passionate and naturally talented.

True wisdom, on the other hand, is not natural and comes only through God-given humility, reason, good judgment, and true love in one’s heart. It comes only through personal qualities that no human can obtain through his or her own efforts. True wisdom empowers us to discern, understand, and reason through the matters of life well beyond our level of maturity and experience. It empowers us to understand and discern between absolute right and absolute wrong (along with the gray areas that remain personal). It empowers us with the complete understanding of when to speak and when to be silent, even to our self. It empowers us to know when we have hurt someone with our words and gives us the strength and humility to sincerely apologize. True wisdom is not achieved or naturally inborn, but is freely given to any person who understands that only God can provide it through his provision of humility. Each one of us is born with natural wisdom, but True wisdom transcends our strengths and weaknesses; it guides us, directs us, empowers us with the means to understand life for what it truly is and transforms all who receive it.