Hurricane Florence has dominated the news as it barreled down on North Carolina and the surrounding areas. I am paying closer attention because my sister is in the path of the storm as it turned south once it hit the coast. In anticipation of all the recovery efforts, I saw a report on Coast Guard rescues during previous hurricanes. It showed a guardsman saving 8 people from raging ocean waters. You saw him being lowered from the helicopter into the turbulent water to save these people tossed and trapped by the storm. He said it was like being dumped into a washing machine with water, wind and waves coming at you from all directions. He faced agitation, forceful water, spinning from the line, being tossed to and fro by high seas. Sounds like a washing machine to me. The bravery it took to fly out in such storms and head towards such uncertainty is honorable. The video showed how these heroic men and women risk their lives to save the lives of others. The millions of people faced with the decision to stay riding out the storm or follow the mandatory evacuation for Hurricane Florence, sure wish they had some wisdom in this time of crisis. I am sure the devastating scenes from last year’s massive storms must be playing on their minds as well as report of 3,000 dead after hurricane Maria last year in Puerto Rico. How do you make decisions? What constitutes wisdom in these moments? What would you do if faced with an evacuation order?
Wisdom is coveted in these life and death moments, and we also need wisdom in our everyday lives. We seek wisdom when faced with, how do I help my troubled child? How do I navigate a new medical diagnosis? When is it time to leave my beloved home? We all seek wisdom in those moments. We often pray, we seek God’s care. Proverbs personifies wisdom, giving God’s wisdom voice and agency. I like this idea of wisdom being like a person. I think it helps me to think of her standing on my shoulder opposite the devil who is sometimes pushing me towards bad choices. Wisdom is a force to be reckoned with, not a distant concept. Wisdom shows up in the busy streets and public squares. She shows up in questions and decisions. But wisdom also reminds us that if we ignore her, and panic strikes like a storm or a whirlwind she does not necessarily come to our aid. Ignoring wisdom is choosing destruction, scripture says. The people effected by Florence are facing that even if wisdom is their friend.
Wisdom teaches life lessons. This week a friend said to me, “God’s in charge.” A true wisdom statement. But sometimes we forget that, especially when faced with hard decisions. This same friend said, “I get screwy” when I doubt that God is in charge and I try to go it on my own. I could so relate to her. I have been working on the lease with the new preschool and it has taken up a good portion of my time. Getting a new preschool at the church is an important and wonderful thing. Doing it so quickly is so much better than I could ever imagine. Todd and Leah who are working to start Little Learners Preschool here are good people. But trying to manage all the moving parts of this lease has felt like I have been tossed to and fro. As soon as we think it is done we have one more item to sort through. Doubts would pop in my head, and I’d wonder if I’m doing this right. I know God is in charge, but I am the one signing the lease, wanting to secure a good and fair deal for the church.
Doubt can creep in and then we miss the wisdom, God’s care, God’s plan. In the beginning of James, he talks about this very thing… “If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-8) When we are struggling with a task or decision the doubts can toss us to and fro. We forget God is in charge, doubts creep in, and then we are tossed about like we are in a washing machine, we get screwy. We let in the fears, or wonder what if I am not doing it right, or what if I make a bad choice, creating doubt in us and we have lost our anchor in Christ. But wisdom is trusting in God and knowing that in the end God has it all worked out. I am happy to say we signed the Preschool lease on Thursday! We have several more huddles to clear, like state licensure and small renovations, but I do believe that we are moving in God’s plan for this space, our church and for our community to be served.
As we embark on opening a new preschool, James is reminding us of the responsibilities of teachers and speaking wisdom. These words apply to all of us and the words we use. Our tongues needing a bridle and being like fire are images that jump off the page, and what I preached on the last time we shared this text. But this time I see a different reminder in the context of wisdom and speech. We all make mistakes. James writes, “For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect” (v2). Is anyone here a member of the perfect speech club? I doubt it. Right in the middle of thinking about our speech is this truth, this wisdom statement. We all make mistakes. This leads me to the words of Alexander Pope, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” When that word comes out of your mouth that you regret, when you realize too late that you hurt feelings with that comment, then wisdom leads us, faith leads us, to forgive. That is a powerful reminder. Even when we seek God’s wisdom, even when we want to do what is right by God and in our faith, we make mistakes. We know that our mouths can offer blessing or curse. Our tongues can be full of deadly poison, with hurtful words intentional or not. These negative words can poison our speech and we are encouraged to have only good come from our mouths. To not let the brackish water, pollute our fresh water speech. I think we all work hard in speaking in ways pleasing to God. But rather than try harder to eliminate the negative I think we should try to increase the positive.
This week I had my eyes checked. As I was going through the examine answering the string of questions… one or two? Two or three? One or two? I noticed that as I gave my answers my doctor gave me encouragement, simply saying, good, or yes. I appreciated her words and said so and she acknowledged how it can be stressful to make those decisions. That we can doubt if we are seeing it right or we might get it wrong and get wrong prescription. She often double checks your answers so if it is close she can zero in even with our doubts. She also offers encouragement. I think that is a lesson in wisdom. It is not about getting it right all the time. It is about knowing we will make mistakes and being encouraging of ourselves and others even when mistakes happen. To err is human, to forgive divine. I think that is the best wisdom statement of all especially when we apply that to ourselves. I don’t know about you but I often hold myself to a higher standard, and fail to forgive myself as easily as I forgive others. The great commandment says, Love others as we love ourselves. So it follows that we should show ourselves the same forgiveness too. Forgive ourselves as we forgive others. We are not perfect, we have our doubts, we make mistakes. But God is right there with us encouraging us, forgiving us, and loving us as the beautiful creations we are in God’s sight. May we live and love in that wisdom statement! Amen.
