The Wise Man & The Fool
What makes one the wise man or the fool?
It’s not how one is born, rather what one chooses to become.
Becoming happens day by day as the newborn develops.
He’s always listening. Watching. Receiving influence, breathing in.
Not only air but the environment and all it contains. Life and toxins.
Nurture and perhaps trauma, withheld love, or abuse. Fear & insecurity.
Much of the emerging wise man’s education
is spent discerning and deleting these toxins, and traumas.
Ticking time-bombs they are, ready to throw him into denial.
One that empowers him to avoid and blame, tempting to escape.
Dismissing responsibility will tear into relationships he vitally needs.
The fool reveals his identity by refusing to grow up, eschewing discipline.
His childish choices trap him in an adult body with a child’s emotions.
A fool’s choices define him, cheating and deceiving, stealing truth.
Forcing him down a path with chains, bereft of wisdom and her voice.
A lonely prodigal road leads him hungry to the pigpen where,
He can arise and return to his Father’s house, if he so chooses.
Where does wisdom come from?
It’s everywhere but must be heard, then heeded, restraining.
The fool becomes one when he puts his hands over his ears.
He won’t pay the price he knows wisdom will exact from him.
This cost involves losing his false self and his selfish kingdom.
He would rather spill his treasure on other shores than give it to her.
Yes, Wisdom is a she, and she unlocks many doors if courted.
Doors that lead to life, honor, companionship, and full treasuries.
She keeps her word like no other and doesn’t make empty promises.
She cries out from the highest places of the city,
“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
Forsake foolishness and live and go in the way of understanding.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:4,6,10 Dan Lillyblad 1-30-22