walK with THE Wise ~ "Learn..."

Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;

pay attention and gain understanding.

I give you sound learning,

so do not forsake my teaching.

(Proverbs 4.1-2)

Our oldest son is in college...

We are discovering what anyone else who has a kid in college... or has paid/is paying for college... knows. It costs something. It costs a lot. College is horribly expensive and the price continues to rise, rapidly. And I'm not just referring to the $$$. We go to college to learn, to gain the skills and beginning experience we need to work in today's society - at least that's the theory. Just how much are we willing to pay for that opportunity? Of course, we soften the blow by calling it an investment into the future.

The older I get, the more I realize that there are some big "costs" I have to pay if I genuinely want to learn, if I want to get wisdom:

• time
• effort
• focus
• loyalty
• attentiveness
• willingness to learn
• desiring so much to be wise I'm willing to pay the cost
• committing to remember/memorize
• digging deep, in an intellectual sense, to understand
• prioritizing God's viewpoint over my own
• embrace the lessons of life, even the hard ones
• a striving to be righteous
• holding tight to what I've learned
• protecting and treasuring what God's taught me in the past
• applying wisdom to new situations
• refusing to contradict God's wisdom
• choosing to obey God's instruction
• standing alone
• running from evil
• teachable, with a heart and mind inclined to learn
• don't forget or lose sight of what you've learned
• be careful with the words you say
• be careful with the words you hear and the things you choose to see
• keep your eyes directed towards wisdom
• reflect over where you've been, what you've done and let God teach you
• stay on God's straight but narrow path for more encounters with wisdom and opportunities to learn

What am I willing to pay, if I want to be wise?

How about you?

Are you paying the cost? Are you making this most important future investment?