Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday February 5, 2009

In today's world and certainly more so in the ancient, Wisdom, was prized above all. To get Wisdom was the admonition of educators from the mother’s knee to Heidelberg, to the Bible, especially the Bible. We have heard of the Wisdom of Solomon. Solomon advised:

"How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!" Proverbs 16:16

He said a lot more about Wisdom, but the above should suffice for the purposes of today's rant.

I learned early that being a "Wise guy" is much different than being a "Wise Man." I thought about this the other day when a smart alec interviewer suddenly asked a question totally unrelated to my book, "Lasting Friendships In 30 Days." Out of nowhere the child asked, "Well, Dr. Lilly shall we talk about your tax problems from a few years ago?" She had a smirk that would have stood Machiavelli well. Prior to thinking, I replied in all sincerity, "Well I did have a few problems, so I seriously thought about being Treasurer of the United States instead of writing this book."

I'm certain several folks ordered the book due to my answer. I recall one time getting slapped about half simple, well, maybe even more, when I gave an instant smart comeback to my Mother when I was around 6 years of age. While getting whacked I recall her words of timeless wisdom; "Mr. Lilly, being a wise guy does not mean you are wise." Pretty good wisdom from the Old German.

The 17th Century French author, Cesar Vichard de Saint-Real wrote:

"Wisdom is to the soul what health is to the body."

If I were truly a wise man I would spend much less time remonstrating with myself about many of my decisions with the question, "Why?" I pay much closer attention to my physical health than to my spiritual development in spite of Paul warning that "bodily exercise profiteth little."

I have written all of the above to get to this gem by Bennett Cerf:

"All the wisdom of the ages is available at negligible cost to all of us within the covers of books."

How true, and yet how many read? For a mere $20 you can sift through a lifetime of accumulated Wisdom about Lasting Friendships. I hope you get the drift.

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2009 Use with credit.

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