Wisdom

In all my studies, not just my studies of Proverbs, I acknowledged the advice to seek wisdom wherever possible. From all kinds of people, jobs, experiences, and genres. In art, music, literature, and the culinary world.

Most recently, I was happy to discover, or rediscover, the wisdom one can glean from a seemingly ordinary retail setting.

I worked a short seasonal job at Michaels craft store. I’ve never been drawn to the retail industry, but the world of Michaels offers a Santa Land of glitter and color and texture! If you’re into Christmas, Michaels doesn’t disappoint.

Some mornings I’d awake and see glitter on my eyelids and in my hair. What fun! Something about glitter and sparkly things makes me smile and feel like a little girl again.

I’m a realist at the end of the day. I know life isn’t all glitter and some people really despise a Hallmark- movie perspective. I get it. More than you can possibly know–I get it.

But as I reflect on my time there, it is once again clear to me that it is all about the people. A proud parent purchasing their child’s first paint set. An elderly lady still buying yarn to knit her way through another day. A shy teenager perusing every aisle for just the thing to start a new project.

Though I rest in bed today, disappointed that I am sick again, I reach for what I know best.

Writing– my faithful remedy.

It can restore a soul!

I am glad I had another opportunity to discover wisdom. To solidify what I already know to be true.

There is wisdom in all that glitter…

There is wisdom in the ordinary, and in the seriousness of life.

Proverbs 4:7 emphasizes, “Get wisdom, and, with all thy getting, get understanding.”

Matthew Henry writes, “Get wisdom by experience… take more pains to get this than to get the wealth of this world,” (The Matthew Henry Commentary).

Amen.