A Quest for Wisdom

As a kid, I was a huge roller coaster fan. So much so that I couldn’t thoroughly enjoy the rest of the amusement park or the fair until I experienced every roller coaster at least once. The thrill factor was exhilarating and it was a must do. Who wanted to hear that I went to an amusement park and got on the merry-go-round? That wasn’t exciting. As I got older, I began to acquire a little more knowledge about roller coasters. Structure, safety aspects for riders, and things of that nature. So, I began to then weigh the thrill factors against the risk factors. Guess what? The risks began to outvote the thrills. My mind began to be a little less carefree as I  matured and began to consider my life as more valuable than a temporary thrill. Needless to say, those rides became a little less appealing.

...the thrill factor was exhilarating...

I had a former boss who once told me that he didn’t trust a ride that they could pack up and move to the next town on the back of a truck. Only when I began to learn more about those kinds of things, related to fairs and amusement parks, did I agree with his logic. What was once thrilling was starting to look pretty terrifying. I love that story about myself because it illustrates to me how knowledge, wisdom, and understanding can shift one’s perspective. All three are so vital for us in our daily living, but also from a spiritual perspective as well. 

So, since I noted the value of Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding, I think it’s valuable to understand what they mean. To do that, let’s unpack my experience.

Knowledge is the “what”. It is learning by acquiring information. It’s like we are a sponge that absorbs all the facts concerning whatever the topic may be. In the case of my story, one of the facts that I had was that roller coasters were fun! They were exhilarating, not just for the rider but for others to hear about. That’s knowledge in a nutshell. A fact. Like, the sun is hot. That is knowledge. If I never felt the warmth of it, I could do a quick search and discover that truth. My experience and knowledge of roller coasters came from my own personal experience. As I got older, I began to learn a few more facts. It’s one thing to have all this knowledge about a subject, but, then what?

A sticky situation...

Let’s talk about understanding. Understanding is what allows me to take the knowledge, that is the facts, that I’ve gained and develop the “how” or the “why”. As an example, if my roller coaster were made of sticks, understanding is what would allow me to weigh the potential implications beyond the knowledge of “it’s fun!”. In my case, thankfully, none of those coasters were made of sticks or I likely wouldn’t still be around to tell the story. Nonetheless, I still acquired a deeper knowledge of how they work. That being the case, what do I do with my facts and my understanding?

Wisdom is my real world experience. This is how I’m now going to be able to apply my knowledge and understanding. Going back to that example of a roller coaster made of sticks. My wisdom would be in the risks of such a ride out weighing the thrill and me no longer riding such a roller coaster.

So when we explore Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding in our faith experience, we are prayerfully taking a similar journey when we are studying God’s word. I would also like to stress the word study. It’s one thing to read it, right? Afterall, we read lots of things all throughout our day-to-day experience. But more than “reading”, we have to gain an understanding of what we read. If we don’t take it to the next level, then we won’t understand the implications of a life with or without God. We have to desire more than what’s on the surface. 

When I learned one fact outside of the “fun” of a roller coaster, I began to seek more. The purpose of such a journey wasn’t only going to enlighten me and make sure my “understanding” was fairly accurate, but it would open up a value for my life that I hadn’t yet taken into consideration. It would lead me to the wisdom of applying the knowledge to my life. Our faith will take us on a similar trajectory. To acquire knowledge, I need only to read the word. To acquire an understanding, I need to meditate and weigh the for or against. Once I do that, God will open up a wisdom that only he can provide. So each are so vital in our spiritual lives, just as in our daily living. 

If I were to put it in even simpler terms than all the above, I’d use a popular phrase. Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when and how to say it. 

Stay Sunny!

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