Best Companion for Life

Receive wisdom. It can be found when you look for it. It can be discovered when you seek it like a fine treasure. When wisdom is your ultimate goal, you will begin to find it even when you’re not really thinking about it and when you least expect it! 

 Wisdom can be gained from the old and young alike. It can even be obtained from those by whom you find offensive. It is amazing when you open your eyes, ears and heart to receive wisdom. You will find that it is all around you. You will see it, feel it, even hear it calling to you from the streets.

Wisdom will protect you. It will shield you. It will encourage you. It will improve you. It will give you courage, and it will keep you humble. I just can’t overemphasize the value of it. Wisdom is one of the best companion you can have in life. 

Have you ever seen someone who just simply refuses wisdom? Throughout their whole life, they constantly live from crisis to crisis. They are in and out of trouble, whether financially, emotionally, physically or relationally. They are unstable, unreliable and unpredictable. They are always broke, financially, emotionally or relationally, and they are always needing to be rescued from the pit in which they’ve fallen. If they remain this way, always believing things will be different, even though they return time and time again to their same previous chosen paths, they find themselves, at the end of life, wounded, lost, without jobs, surrounded by broken or, at the least, very conflicted relationships and, often, a trail of wearisome reputations follows close behind. 

But wisdom can be found! Wisdom can come in so many shapes and sizes. You can gain it by the very people surrounding you right now. It can come from family, friends, enemies and even complete strangers, from those who are older, wiser, more experienced, and even from those, maybe, not so old in years. It can come from books and teachings. If we’ll listen, we will find that it can even come from the mouths of babes. Have you ever had your child say something so profound, you knew it must be God? If you haven’t, just wait, your day will come! Wisdom can also come in the form of sorrow and experience. Just as a small child learns the stove is hot, and it hurts the hand when you touch it, our own failures and mishaps will teach us a better way. 

One of the best, most beneficial places it will come is The Word of God. I know, that may sound ‘old fashioned’ to some; this is definitely not a popular message these days, but it’s true. There is more wisdom within those bookends than any other book ever written. If you want to succeed in life, you must gain wisdom. If you want to grow, mature and encounter the joys of life, you must obtain wisdom. Wisdom never guarantees perfection, prosperity and riches. It never promises only sunny days that never see rain and only ‘smooth sailings’ with no knots in the line; however, it is an assurance which covers you like a warm blanket and guides you through those cold and dreary nights. Wisdom guides you through each circumstance despite the crisis, storm, or disasters that arise. It is an anchor that holds and a strong tower which can not fail.

Get wisdom. Gain understanding. Seek knowledge. You will be amazed at where life will take you when these are your life’s companions.

“Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[a] wisdom. Though it cost all you have,[b] get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown.” Proverbs 4:6-9

Grace and Mercy

Bruised, shaking fists
Clenched, knuckle-white hands
Twisted face

Tightly closed-shut eyes
Letting in not a droplet of light
A life branded by pain
Where is the grace?
Where is the mercy?

A life cut short.
An unexplained sin.
A life-long disease.

The wounded, wound.
The pained cause pain.
The abused, abuse.

Oh, God, my heart grieves.
My eyes weep till tears are no more.
My knuckles are bloody from the pain.
Where is the grace?
Where is the mercy?

The flowers are denied their bloom.
The sun refuses to rise to give any warmth.
The wind will not send the breeze.

The world has turned gray.
The laughter is silent for miles.
The innocence has been hidden.
When will this pain end?
When will this grief hide?

This brokenness, a bloody mess.

These wounds and scars too deep to heal.
We clutch at life. No heartbeat is felt.
The air is toxic. No breath can be found.
Where is Your grace?
Where is Your mercy now?

It is found at the cross.
That bleeding, broken, wretched place. That is where Your grace abounds.
As You watched Your own Son die, You saw our sin. You saw our redemption.
It was there, Your grace and mercy from death began its prevention.

We only see what isn’t.
The grief. The emptiness. The death. We live with the loss.
The regret. The shame. The failure.
We see only the holes on the canvas of life.
Never realizing the void can be filled again with a joy that overflows, a love that is unconditional, a grace that is unending.

In the pain, knowledge is built.
In the sorrow, wisdom is rendered.
Emotions raw and undone.
Words broken and unsung.
How can we find this grace?
How can we receive this mercy?

Run into His loving arms.
Take His guiding hand to lead, to love.
Living breathless or breathless living.
Living fully or lifeless living.
More than alive or just less than dead.
We choose. We decide. We live life or death.

Penned – MG – 1/23/15

The Storm

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The storm rages within my heart.

The anger is building. I only want to scream.

Lord, please do not let this become sin.

These clouds of pain threaten to overcome.

My heart is broken in two. Despair only wants to fill.

Lord, please do not let this fail to mend.

The winds of distance blow all over me.

The grief is suffocating. I only want to die.

Lord, please do not let this hate to contend.

The light of grace shines down to me.

The love is blinding. I only want to change.

Lord, please do not let this peace to grow dim.

The skies of joy are now all I see.

My heart is mended. Faith only wants to grow.

Lord, please do not let this happiness to ever end.

Penned – MG – 8/1/99