You can feel the shudder running through the the entire vessel. The storm is all around. The rigging is loose and blowing in the wind. And the disciples are panic-stricken. It is marvelous to realize that amid the raging storm and the mounting panic and fear, the disciples had to awaken Jesus to tell Him about it. It wasn't because He didn't care or because He was indifferent. It was because He had ultimate trust in God. He had sunk Himself so deep into the being of God for that period of refreshment that He was sleeping right through the storm.
You can look at this painting and say to yourself, "I've got to learn that: to have complete trust in God."
From time-to-time, we're all in need of a spiritual wake-up call. Those times when we need the sort of complete trust in God that will enable us to weather any storm. "So, stay awake," we hear Jesus telling His disciples and would-be followers in parable form. He said that true wisdom consists in knowing how and when to prepare for death. It is the familiar Bible story of the 10 bridesmaids, five of whom were foolish (unwise), the other five sensible (wise).
From time-to-time, we're all in need of a spiritual wake-up call. Those times when we need the sort of complete trust in God that will enable us to weather any storm. "So, stay awake," we hear Jesus telling His disciples and would-be followers in parable form. He said that true wisdom consists in knowing how and when to prepare for death. It is the familiar Bible story of the 10 bridesmaids, five of whom were foolish (unwise), the other five sensible (wise).
The unwise bridesmaids found that they had been excluded from the wedding feast because they were unprepared through a lack of foresight. The wise bridesmaids were admitted to the wedding feast because they were prepared through the exercise of foresight. The parable's point is that foresight (staying awake) is the beginning of true wisdom -- the onset of living wisely.
The Holy men and women of the Far East have always made wisdom the supreme human virtue. The custom of disciplined solitude in the pursuit of wisdom profoundly affected Oriental religious thinking. For most of us in today's western society, there is little or no time in our busy schedules for practicing the pursuit of wisdom through serious, uninterrupted reflection about who we are and what we ought to do with our lives.
An anonymous writer has given us this story of an American tourist's visit to the 19th century Polish Rabbi, Chofetz Chaim, who was looked upon by the people of his time as a sage and saintly person. On his arrival at the rabbi's residence, the tourist was astonished to discover that it consisted only of one simple room. The walls were lined with books; a table and a chair were the only furnishings.
The Holy men and women of the Far East have always made wisdom the supreme human virtue. The custom of disciplined solitude in the pursuit of wisdom profoundly affected Oriental religious thinking. For most of us in today's western society, there is little or no time in our busy schedules for practicing the pursuit of wisdom through serious, uninterrupted reflection about who we are and what we ought to do with our lives.
An anonymous writer has given us this story of an American tourist's visit to the 19th century Polish Rabbi, Chofetz Chaim, who was looked upon by the people of his time as a sage and saintly person. On his arrival at the rabbi's residence, the tourist was astonished to discover that it consisted only of one simple room. The walls were lined with books; a table and a chair were the only furnishings.
"But rabbi," the tourist asked, "Where is your furniture?" To which the rabbi replied, "where is yours?" "Where is mine?" said the puzzled tourist, "I'm only a visitor here, just passing through." "So am I" answered the Rabbi, "so am I."
We are crippled in our search for wisdom by a society that describes success as acquiring knowledge and applying that knowledge for personal gain. We have reached the point of progress wherein our capacity to gather, store, and interpret information is almost limitless. Of course, this knowledge-gathering explosion has brought us some very good things. However, we need to be reminded that it has brought us problems and complications which humans have never faced before.
We are crippled in our search for wisdom by a society that describes success as acquiring knowledge and applying that knowledge for personal gain. We have reached the point of progress wherein our capacity to gather, store, and interpret information is almost limitless. Of course, this knowledge-gathering explosion has brought us some very good things. However, we need to be reminded that it has brought us problems and complications which humans have never faced before.
Our burgeoning storehouse of knowledge, loaded with new facts, new statistics, new data of all kinds, tends to obscure the reality that we humans are newcomers in a universe that is billions of years old. Yet, recent technological progress has accelerated so fast that we cannot comprehend the significance of events that impinge our daily lives. In other words, as a society and as individuals, both, we are acquiring knowledge at breakneck speed without slowing down, ever, to reflect on how to handle it -- what to do with it -- how to use it to uplift the human spirit and to better social relationships.
Living wisely means "staying awake." Living wisely means looking ahead. Living wisely means acknowledging that we are "tourists" on God's earth, only "passing through." Living wisely means pointing oneself in the direction of the very Source of life. Living wisely means acknowledging one's dependence on God not only for life but for the way of life. Living wisely means developing a lifestyle which is an act of faith in God's promise of ultimate, total fulfillment -- when the "tourist" season of life is over.
Is this world of ours, a place where peace and justice and love are the foundation stones? Or have we lost God? Is this community of ours a bastion of human trust and care and compassion? Or, again, have we lost God?
It is the power of wisdom that draws us into this state of being we call God's Kingdom. It is the power of wisdom that propels our desire to care and share and have compassion for one another. And it is the power of Wisdom that teaches us how little time we have to do it. Indeed. wisdom teaches us that we are only passing through this Divinely created school of learning how to love.
By the time we reach kindergarten age, we already have been exposed to all the wisdom we need to live good and meaningful lives. So says Robert Fulghum in his best-selling book of the 1980s, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."
"Wisdom," he says, "was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. In that sandpile, I learned such things as 'Cookies and milk taste good' and 'Wash your hands before you eat.' But, more importantly, I also learned such things as:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Hold hands and stick together.
"Think what a better world it would be if people would only put into practice the wisdom learned in the sandpile! Think what a better world it would be if people were more willing to share and play fair and say they're sorry when they hurt somebody, and not take things that aren't theirs. And isn't it still true that no matter how old we are, it is best to hold hands and stick together?"
Trust wisely my friends! Make each day of your life's journey a time of preparation for death, and the promise of new life.
Live wisely by experiencing the joy of human love now, preparing for the awesome experience of Divine Love for all eternity. And remember always: "stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour".
Living wisely means "staying awake." Living wisely means looking ahead. Living wisely means acknowledging that we are "tourists" on God's earth, only "passing through." Living wisely means pointing oneself in the direction of the very Source of life. Living wisely means acknowledging one's dependence on God not only for life but for the way of life. Living wisely means developing a lifestyle which is an act of faith in God's promise of ultimate, total fulfillment -- when the "tourist" season of life is over.
Is this world of ours, a place where peace and justice and love are the foundation stones? Or have we lost God? Is this community of ours a bastion of human trust and care and compassion? Or, again, have we lost God?
It is the power of wisdom that draws us into this state of being we call God's Kingdom. It is the power of wisdom that propels our desire to care and share and have compassion for one another. And it is the power of Wisdom that teaches us how little time we have to do it. Indeed. wisdom teaches us that we are only passing through this Divinely created school of learning how to love.
By the time we reach kindergarten age, we already have been exposed to all the wisdom we need to live good and meaningful lives. So says Robert Fulghum in his best-selling book of the 1980s, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten."
"Wisdom," he says, "was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. In that sandpile, I learned such things as 'Cookies and milk taste good' and 'Wash your hands before you eat.' But, more importantly, I also learned such things as:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Hold hands and stick together.
"Think what a better world it would be if people would only put into practice the wisdom learned in the sandpile! Think what a better world it would be if people were more willing to share and play fair and say they're sorry when they hurt somebody, and not take things that aren't theirs. And isn't it still true that no matter how old we are, it is best to hold hands and stick together?"
Trust wisely my friends! Make each day of your life's journey a time of preparation for death, and the promise of new life.
Live wisely by experiencing the joy of human love now, preparing for the awesome experience of Divine Love for all eternity. And remember always: "stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour".
As we lull ourselves to sleep in this time of pandemic isolation and associated inactivity, we would do well to give ourselves a shake!
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