January 26 2022
DISCIPLINE AND WISDOM
King Solomon states as purpose of The Proverbs: ‘ the attainment of wisdom and discipline’, and the ‘acquisition of a disciplined and prudent life’. In verse 7 he writes, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
I try to live by those givens.
Now that I am a widower, living alone, I am more in charge of my life than when my wife of 67 years was alive. She still lives in me, but, for a long time, she suffered from dementia and spent the last 10 months in a Long – Term facility locally where I visited her every day.
It has always been my aim in life to attain wisdom and discipline, very much encouraged by my spouse. I regulate my time rigorously: I get up at 7.30, have a healthy breakfast, prepared in a slow cooker, of organic oats, add fruit, and have 3 cups of rooibos tea, followed later by 2 cups of coffee. (I had kidney stones a couple of times. Not recommended).
At 11 o’clock I start to prepare a hot lunch, soup from the freezer on Sundays, while, on most weekdays, I eat homegrown potatoes and vegetables – no meat – with a healthy mix of gravy, onion, garlic, tomato, olive oil, and once a week either rice or spaghetti with sauce. In the afternoon a large bowl of yogurt sweetened with pear sauce or maple syrup and one slice of bread for supper. I now love cooking and experiment with different recipes. O yes, a piece of chocolate daily!
Invariably I exercise on my treadmill, stationary bike and rowing machine every day in the winter or walk for an hour in the nearby forests. In bed at 9.30. O yes, I have an afternoon nap. I always read aloud a Psalm before breakfast, and pray. After my morning meal, I type in a 500 words meditation, based on the lectionary of that day.
There you have my daily routine, which also consists of a week-long ‘write and scratch effort for my weekly 800 words, blog. I always have a few books on the go, many from my own collection. I hardly watch TV, but read the New York Times, the Guardian and the Globe and Mail.
My family.
I have 5 children, 2 in the USA. My 3 Ontario ones, living in Toronto and beyond, visit each week, in turn. My daughter and her husband come every other week; she also phones me at 9 am and 5 pm without fail, and supervises my shopping. My USA daughters phone and try to come as often as possible.
Then there is the ‘fear’ of the Lord.
The word ‘fear’ in that text, is subject to misinterpretation. “Fear” there does not indicate ‘being afraid’ or ‘shrinking away from God’. It actually indicates the opposite. Maimonides, the great Jewish sage, categorized the fear of God as a positive commandment, as the feeling of human insignificance deriving from contemplation of God’s “great and wonderful actions and creations.”
To update this well-known, often recurring, text, and incorporating Bonhoeffer’s thinking also, equating creation with God, my attitude toward life, my goal for eternity, is “living in total admiration, contemplation and knowledge of God’s creation, as the starting point of understanding and wisdom”.
There, in a nutshell, is the prescription for my LIFE. I do believe that Jesus came, not to bring a religion, even though we have now The Christ-ian Religion. No, in descending to earth he wants me to fully experience being human, following his example through all phases of life, from baby to infant, to toddler, to boyhood, teenager and adult.
It is telling that, as an idealistic twelve years old teenager, he tried to reason with the professors of religion at the Jerusalem School of Theology, where later Paul too received his advanced schooling. It is significant that, as an adult, he never repeated that dialogue. Instead, he condemned their teaching in no uncertain terms. He learned young in life the pitfalls of religion, which killed him.
.
What else did this 12 years old teenager, teach me?
What Jesus learned in 3 days of give and take while his parents were frantically searching for him, also taught me a few things about myself.
For one thing: I, too, was formed in my youth. There I received the foundation of my life. After Jesus’ exposure to ‘theological teaching’ he forever stayed away from the temple-school and their learned professors, knowing full well that ‘religion’ and ‘tradition’ kill, just as it did Jesus.
Today ‘religion’ kills creation, which I see as the embodiment of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and fully redeemed through Christ.
That’s why that text, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction,” I try to rule my life.