Yesterday I found myself thinking a lot about wisdom. In consulting Wikipedia, I realized wisdom is a lot of different things to a lot of people. My search of Wikiquote proved far more enlightening, but it is curious that there is just one quotation from the Bible. The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, attributed to King Solomon, were written primarily to teach the ways of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Solomon tells his son. If you are the god of your own universe, you're not wise. If you want to be wise, don't hang with losers. Be careful who you chose for friends and don't let passions rule your life. Be disciplined. Lay a good foundation in your youth and you will have the wherewith all to face the inevitable sorrows life brings. Good basic stuff.
I read Ecclesiastes all the way through for the first time in my thirties. Then I was preparing to be a deacon in my church and was required to read the entire Bible in a two year cycle. At that time I found the words of Solomon written at the end of his life very depressing. Vanity, vanity, all is vanity he drones. All the things we humans think are important, old Solomon declares are nothing more than vanity. When I reread Ecclesiastes in my forties, it was less of an ordeal. By the time, I reached my fifties, by golly Solomon was right on target. The following verse has been helpful to me: Ecclesiastes Chapter 5, verses 19-20. As an aside, my father-in-law's birthday was 5/19 and he was a pretty wise man.
"It is a gift of God that every man to whom he has granted wealth and
riches and the power to enjoy them should accept his lot and rejoice
in his labor. He will not dwell overmuch upon his passing years; for
God fills his time with joy of heart."
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