Wisdom...The New Wrinkle Cure

Ecclesiastes 8: 1 -3 - How wonderful to be wise, to be able to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person's face, softening its hardness. Obey the king because you have vowed before God to do this. Don't try to avoid doing your duty, and don't take a stand with those who plot evil. For the king will punish those who disobey him.

 

Solomon makes two important points in the first three verses of this chapter of Ecclesiastes. Our responsibility as a Christian includes doing our best to fulfill all that we are asked to do. And striving for wisdom puts a countenance on our face that softens the hard lines that life and worry sometimes furrow all the way down to our very soul.

 

As it says in Colossians 3:23-24… “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” I need to practice what I preach to my students every day when I say to them… “Work as hard on doing your best as you do at trying to get out of working at all.”

 

The second point is a revelation in itself.  We search for ways to prevent wrinkles and make ourselves look younger….and the answer is right here.  Searching for wisdom prevents us from the worry that causes the wrinkles in the first place.  God will put a permanent light into our face that brightens our spirit…if we let him place wisdom in the place of all that breaks our spirit down.

 

I needed both reminders this morning.  Summer is coming quick...and I will be tempted to sit way to much with all the extra time I will have. I am sure that God has something important I should be doing to fill the 3 month vacation he gives me each year. I have also joined the ranks of those who fight the aging process each day. My 55 years have put more than a few wrinkles in my face….and I am sure that a few of those worry lines have reached far down into the depths of my soul.  How comforting to know that God can help me prevent any more…even soften the ones that already exist.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to let you have total control of my life…all the time you allow me….all the worry I am tempted to do…all the work I try to convince myself is not for me.  Forgive me for the time that I have not let you guide me completely…and help me to seek you for strength..guidance…..comfort….. and discernment in every day that is ahead.  Amen.