If you put the ingredients together for a pie and put them in the oven, you won’t end up with a roast chicken. If you throw together a batch of cookies, you won’t ever take out and serve a 3 layer cake out of the same ingredients.

What you put in is what you get coming out. This is a foundational idea in the Bible: what you take into your heart is what will end up coming out of you– in word, in deed, and in the fruit of your life.

‘If the sun is not awake, then you aren’t allowed to play yet.’ That’s the rule in our house for our three year old. A few months back, we were going through a phase where she would wake up in the middle of the night and wander the house– usually hiding somewhere so that when we figured out she was out of bed, we would have to search to find her before settling her again. Once she realized that didn’t work, she started coming to our bed every night, which also grew old fast. 

That was when we taught her that when the sun goes down, we go to sleep, and when it rises again we can start a new day of playing. But if she wakes and the sun isn’t up yet, she has to try to go back to sleep.

Wisdom comes with experience. For the most part, that’s what we believe– that the longer you live, the more wisdom you have. It’s not a wrong line of thinking, as throughout our lives, the things we go through teach us something; so experiences hone wisdom because the knowledge was gained through living. 

But Godly wisdom isn’t just this passively gained thing as we go through life. It doesn’t happen by osmosis. Godly wisdom is something gained through active pursuit. It’s an intentional process that costs us something in order to receive and apply it.

I grew up in a Christian school all the way up through the fifth grade. At North Shore Christian School, every morning we would stand, say the pledge of allegiance, sing “God Bless America,” pledge allegiance to the Christian flag, and say the school’s Bible verse, Proverbs 3:5-6. I think in many ways, that was one of the first ever verses I ever burned into my young memory.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. For six years of my life, that was how I started my school day. What a foundation and a truth to stake a young life to!