I would like to say that as I grow older (I will be 33 at the end of next month), that I become wiser.  Wiser, not by purely studying, but from experience.  I believe that there exists 2 types of wise people.

 

There is the ‘Wise by what I read and study’.  This person can definitely talk the talk.  Wise by people’s standards because he/she can talk about all those experiences that other people have.

 

Then there are the ‘Wise by experience’.  This person supports what they read by having their own personal experience.  I fit into this category.

 

This takes me to religion.  I attend church as much as I can on Sunday.   Lately, I’ve been attending Mass.  I’m not Catholic, but also not opposed to Catholicism, as I may have once been.  (For personal reasons that I can dive into later).  Personally, I feel empty when I attend Mass.  Not that I don’t feel God’s presence or use that time to reflect on the week’s or weekend’s activities.  I just don’t feel revived and refreshed, like I’m ready to take on the world with this very positive attitude.  I sometimes feel very negative leaving.

 

Now I will probably get a lot of criticism from long time Catholics, but please give me the benefit of the doubt.  I’m attending Mass, as a non-Catholic and trying to adopt and learn what it means to be Catholic.  I’ve attended services at other churches for a period of time – Seventh Day Adventist, Anglican, Presbyterian, etc.  I won’t say I’m an expert, but there’s one thing for certain that I notice.  There are some individuals that go through the motion and there are some individuals who are actually getting something out of it.  They are actually feeling God’s presence and applying it to themselves that very second, that very day, that week.

 

This is a real challenge in any religion, belief, practice, etc.  To apply what you’ve read, listened, and studied to your everyday life.  So this takes me back to life experiences.  If you don’t reflect on your life experiences and compare them to what you’ve learned, studied, read, or listened to, you don’t become wiser.  You merely become a person who knows a lot in theory, but doesn’t know a lot in practice.  This may be very common sense, but it’s surprising the number of people you come across (even myself sometimes), when they fall into the first category of Wisdom.

 

I leave you with one last thought.  I subscribe to a daily Bible verse (www.biblegateway.com) and sometimes I like to reflect on the verse that is sent to me.  Now, whether or not you are Christian, I encourage you to just read the verses as if they were written by a wise person who is experienced.  Think about your experiences and how the verse can be applied to your life.  This is the verse from today:

 

Ephesians 4:2

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

 

I can’t really say more about this verse.  If you live like this, I guarantee that you will have a great life.

 

Have a blessed and wonderful day!