Get Wise

I know, Dad. I hear that response a lot from my boys—typically with some sort of sing-song whine—when I am trying to do some sort of course correcting, or teach them something new . Sometimes they listen and come to actually know something I've shared. And sometimes the "I know" is their perceived exit from the discussion.

On a good communication day, I will try to make them aware that I am teaching them something that my 42 years have allowed me to experience. And that this experience has made me wise to some things. And even though they think they know something, they ought to listen intently and try to remember what I am saying. (Proverbs 7:1 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you.) because they won't really be wise to something until they've experienced and applied what it is they know.

I heard a story once about a helicopter pilot who shared the experience of his first test-flight with an instructor. He had studied diligently about how to fly a helicopter, and to his understanding, knew how to fly one. All was well aboard his first test flight under the steering of his instructor. However, when he was handed the joystick and told to fly the copter, his inexperienced hands nearly wrecked it.

I believe the older we get, the wiser we get. As I age I see:

• there are plenty of things I don't know
• that I still may only know things, and not be wise to them
• there are some things I wish I didn't know, and was not wise to
• people who think they know things
• people who actually are wise to things
• that I could be wrong

I know....a bit of a ramble....