The First Way To Wisdom

I give what the Lord gives to me. Yesterday and the day before were restless, gray days for me. Two things veiled my spirit: worry about my country and an unsettled sparring match with a Meeting surrogate. As the day turned to evening these two worrisome issues prompted an internal dialog. I went over what was troubling me and presented the situations clearly. I'll tell this to the Lord, I thought. It would be redundant; he already knew but I vocalized anyway, though not as clearly. I prayed for his help, his guidance. Then, still feeling veiled, I said I would wait upon him knowing he would answer my prayer.

This morning I continued to read my printed The Antipathy Between Prophecy and Religion before settling into my reading preparation for worship. My final read is the Bible and today's read was the last chapter of Colossians. Verses 5 and 6 appeared to me as if they were lately inserted. Here's the quote:

     Be wise in the way you act toward those who are not believers, making good use of every

     opportunity you have. Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting, and you should

     know how to give the right answer to everyone.

Amazed, I read it over, highlighted it, and eventually wrote it out in my notebook. But before I did that, I prayed the Lord would make me wise in the way I act toward those who are not believers. That was all. I settled for worship and in that worship, the Lord gave me my first lesson on these matters. I wrote that too in my notebook: The first way to wisdom toward those who are not believers is to stop listening to or reading anything of this world (secular). He showed me that I can't keep my mind and thoughts on Him when I let the world intrude. I got on my knees and thanked him, praised him.

As I thought about this new way for me I began to comprehend the gift it truly was. I saw I was freed to help others. What a joy to be the servant of our Lord and others. What a blessing. Praise be to Jesus Christ forever and ever.