The day began crisp and clear with a beautiful sunrise.  With a light layer of snow arriving overnight, I was up with the sun and headed to work to clear the sidewalks before our Sunday worship gathering.  I didn’t take a camera with me as I planned on clearing the walks and coming right back home to get ready for church.  As the sun made its way up for the day I regretted not having my camera with me but I can at least share a similar scene from the early morning work a few months ago.

While the snow meant another day with some work hours, it is Sunday which means a day to worship with other believers as well as finding some time to rest.  Our Sunday School class this morning spent time in Proverbs 2 and the first part of Proverbs 3.  It made me think about wisdom and how valuable our obtaining it ought to be to us.  We have a culture that puts a great deal of emphasis on collecting knowledge, but not much of a focus on having wisdom.  I began to think about many conversations that I have been part of where there are comments made about the general lack of common sense among people today.  Wisdom from God’s perspective seems to focus on how we use the knowledge that He makes available to us.  Solomon’s writing is pleading with us to pursue wisdom with every fiber of our being.  To put whatever effort is necessary into obtaining and keeping it.  The pursuit of knowledge often puffs us up and fills us with pride.  The pursuit of wisdom brings us to a point of humility where we serve others according to their need.  Godly wisdom protects us, reveals purpose to us, and gives us a good reputation with God and man.

I pray that you and I would always choose wisdom over raw knowledge.  I pray that we would have the courage to live with the application of God’s Word as our source of true wisdom.  

The clear sky of the morning changed to clouds and more snow through the afternoon so it looks like tomorrow will be an early start to a day I had anticipated having off for the President’s Day holiday.  Fortunately, the forecast makes it appear that there will be a break from the snow after tomorrow with projected temperatures near 50 degrees by Friday!  As I write these pages each day, I’m reminded of the words of David as he writes about God knitting us together in the womb.  In that context Psalm 139:16 reads, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  I pray that these pages in “Tom’s Book of 2016” reflect what God has already written in His book about me.