Wisdom at the Crossroads

stand-at-the-crossroads-1024x791Living in the Spirit
May 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;
Beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
To you, O People, I call, and my cry is to all that live. –Proverbs 8:1-4

If we reach down deep inside, most of us know what is right and what is not. We in the USA do stand at a great crossroad between doing what is right or doing what is expedient to meeting our desires. We have lived too long settling for the lesser gods of instant gratification. We want what we want, and we want it now without regard to who may get hurt including ourselves. We also want what we want without having to pay for it in many instances. We want well educated people to keep making all those things we want but we do not want to pay for the education. We do not want our environment to make us sick or destroy our homes, but we do not want to invest our time and energy in creating a world that reduces the risk of environmental damage. We do not want to deal with the health problems of third world countries but when we finally have a health care system that is available only to the wealthiest that is exactly what we will have. We do not want to live in fear of crime or terrorism. . . .and so on it goes.

We have become addicted to greed and privilege and we either do not know how to escape their grasps or are so far gone we do not want to escape it. Wisdom does stand at the crossroads readily available for accessing. There are no quick fixes. There is no white knight going to ride in, wave a magic wane, and get us out of this mess. We have only ourselves to blame for being at this intersection and we, ourselves, will have to take the steps necessary to get us out.

I, probably like you, do not look forward to six more months of political campaigning but who we put into office matters. Will our desire for instant gratification override wisdom in our decision making?

Prayer: Lord, open our minds to your wisdom. Infuse us with wholeness enabling us to see wisdom at the crossroads. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.