Wisdom is knowing how to Cut to the Truth
What better place to learn about wisdom than in Sunday School.
I grew up on that beautiful farm depicted in the picture above, which was painted by my brother Steve Werdal. If you look closely you will count 12 kids plus my Mom and Dad in that painting.
The farm was located 10 miles from the nearest town and every Sunday for several years, my mom and dad held Sunday School in our square pink and blue farmhouse.
My siblings and I pushed the large dining room table into the corner and positioned every available chair in neat rows while my dad drove off to pick up the kids who lived along Mabel Lake Road.
Kids tumbled out of the overloaded car when he arrived back at our farm
Laughing and chatting, they jostled their way into the house and we all took a seat in our makeshift church.
My mom with twelve kids of her own was masterful at organizing and getting everyone’s attention – fast.
Quickly, she divided us into two groups, then sat down at the piano and started to play,
“Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise Ye the Lord”.
We all knew what to do.
One half of the room jumped up and sang the “hallelujah’s”, then sat down while the other half of the room jumped up and sang “Praise Ye the Lord”.
Even the youngest kids in the group could remember the two refrains which made up the whole song.
Repeatedly popping up and down as my mom played faster and faster worked out the wiggles.
The song ended as everyone stood together and in crescendo sang the final “Praise. Ye. The. Lord”.
My Mom loved music . . .
and that song was followed by more songs that were equally fun to sing until finally, the piano sat quiet.
We watched as my mom set up the flannelgraph board and began storytime.
These stories were bible stories that had colorful setting and character cutouts that stuck to a flannelgraph background as the story progressed.
The story this day was especially memorable because it was a story of wise King Solomon and it made a BIG impression on me.
King Solomon, the wisest king to walk this earth
A colorful archway with carved pillars and creeping vines are placed on the flannel board.
A cutout of a throne in which King Solomon is seated wearing a red robe and a gold crown is added.
He is flanked by two armed guards with spears planted by their sides.
Next, two women cutouts are placed on the board.
One is clutching a newborn baby to her chest and the other woman is crowding close, hands out as if to take the baby away.
Her face is crumbled in despair as she tearfully explains that the other woman stole the child from her.
Listening to both sides, King Solomon does not ponder for long
Calling to one of his guards, he says, “Fetch a sword” and orders the guard to, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other”.
At this pronouncement, the woman who is not holding the baby relinquishes her claim and says, “O my Lord, give her the living child and in no wise slay it”.
However, the woman who is holding the child says, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it”.
This is all King Solomon needed to hear and he ordered the woman to give the baby back to it’s rightful mother. I Kings 3 :16 – 28
I was shocked that King Solomon ordered a baby cut in half and relieved that the baby got to live. How did the king know that his method would work – or was it a gamble?
Wisdom and the 5 dollar bill
So what does King Solomon have to do with a 5 dollar bill?
As vice-principal, I was monitoring the halls at lunchtime when two students asked for my help in determining who was the rightful owner of a 5 dollar bill.
Each boy claimed with equal conviction that it had fallen out of his pocket.
Since I had no idea who the money belonged to, I decided to test King Solomon’s strategy and told the boys that I would cut the bill in half and give a side to each one.
Amazingly, it worked.
The one boy said, “No, that’s okay. He can have it”.
The other said, “Sure, that sounds fair”.
I told this boy to return the $5 to the rightful owner, which he did, along with the sheepish admission that he had found it on the floor and that it wasn’t his.
Wisdom is easily recognized and so difficult to practice
Often I react from the gut and then am left to figure out what caused me to react and to determine in hindsight a better response.
This act now, think later often leads to regret and self-recrimination.
King Solomon understood human nature and counted on the gut reactions of these women and used it to determine the rightful mother.
Reacting from the gut is a human response tied to fight, flight, or freeze.
Our beliefs about ourselves and the world influences us. Being aware of unconscious bias is a first step in developing wisdom.
A second step is knowing our values.
Why does Wisdom Matter?
Cultivating wisdom will give you clarity in difficult situations so you can make the best possible decision.
You may feel that wisdom is something that people either have or don’t have. Maybe you even think that you are one of the don’t haves.
I know how you feel. Wisdom is one of my values and is one of the values I struggle with the most.
Partly because when I fail at wisdom, it has more repercussions for other people than when I fail in one of my other values.
When wisdom fails, it’s not just me who feels it.
However, I’ve found that when I can listen without prejudice, I am better able make decisions with clarity.
I will be writing about some of the barriers to wisdom that I’ve come to recognize in myself, and will outline the strategies that I’m using to cut through to the truth in order to practice wisdom.
What do you think impedes wise thinking?
Please leave your comments below.
P.S. I love this quote by Henry David Thoreau. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Often when we look at a situation, we are blinded by our preconceived notions, our insecurities, and/or our biases.
Wisdom sets those aside so that we can think and see clearly.
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