Humor

Oh Wisdom, Wherefore Art Thou

by James Snyder 
12/22/18
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One feature of the Christmas story has to do with the wise men. I’m not sure if there were three or not, but if there were I should like to be number four.

Wisdom is such a rare commodity today I think it would be a wise thing to resurrect these wise men. After all, you never can have too much wisdom.

I was thinking about this the other day as I was going over my weekly “to-do-list.” I make one of these every week so I know what I’m supposed to do. As I finish one task, I check it off in red ink.

It’s not that I don’t do a lot of things during the week, it's simply that I sometimes don’t do the things that I plan to do for the week.

I certainly am not like the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage who has a PhD in planning. I know that if I don’t make my own plans and write them down, she will be glad to assist me. Looking at her “to-do-list,” makes me dizzy. How she can do so much in one week is beyond my understanding, and frankly, I don’t want to understand.

My “to-do-list” contains things that I want to do. That is not too hard to figure out. My wife’s “to-do-list” contains things that she wants done, whether she does them or I do them.

For example. Next month my wife will begin making plans for next year’s Christmas. We are not over this year’s Christmas and she has ideas for next year’s Christmas.

That brings me to the point of wisdom. I do not have enough wisdom, or at least not enough that I would like to have. I am not smart enough to figure out how much I really need, but I am smart enough to know that I sure do need more wisdom than I’ve got.

Wisdom tells us what we can do and cannot do. That sounds like my wife.

One of the great advantages of getting old (and the definition of old is up to the person using it) is that I can always say, “I’m too old to do that anymore.”

The real problem with this excuse is, it does not work well with my wife. She is, and I say this most cautiously, just a wee bit older than I am. When I offer this excuse, she always says, “I’m older than you and I can do it, so go ahead and do it, and no more excuses.”

That is why I need to have my own planner where I can outline my own plans.

This created somewhat of a problem not too long ago. I am not making any accusations, mind you. But I do have my suspicions.

The beginning of the week I opened my weekly planner and noticed I had jotted down “to-do” things I really did not quite remember. I just thought that was old age and I had forgotten I had jotted down these things.

The whole page was filled with all kinds of things for me to do during the week. I did not recognize one of them. Being the kind of person I am, I began doing those things and checking them off with my red pen as I finish them.

When I got to the fifth thing to do, I was a little surprised and not sure what it meant. It simply said, “Get groceries for the week.”

I did not quite understand this. I went back through my weekly planner to see when the last time I got groceries for the week was. I could not find one time that I did.

Right after that one was, “Fill my wife’s car up with gas.”

The next one was, “Do the laundry for the week.”

Now I was getting a little bit frustrated. I do not ever remember writing any of these things down. I know I am getting old and lack a lot of wisdom, but this is ridiculous.

I examined my weekly “to-do-list” and noticed nothing on that list that in any way pertained to me. None of the chores I do every week was even hinted on that page.

Sitting in my chair slowly going over the list my wife walked in and looked at me. She said, “What are you so much in thought about?”

Without even looking up I replied, “I’m trying to figure out my weekly to do list here. I must’ve been crazy when I planned this week out.”

Then, the person on the other side of the room began laughing hysterically. When she quieted down a little she said, “Have you finished all your chores for the week?”

I looked up at her and saw her laughing and all of a sudden, I had a stroke of wisdom like never before. Looking at her I asked, “Did you write this in my book?”

She did not have to answer with words, her dancing eyes and hilarious laugher, told me everything I needed to know.

I thought of what Solomon said, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold” (Proverbs 3:13-14).

One good thing about having wisdom is that you do not have to be too serious about everything in life.