Day 136- Wisdom hidden in our foolishness...
📖Daily Reading
Proverbs 30
🎥 Video
Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.
📝 Reflection
Proverbs 30: 7-9
O God, I beg you two favors from you; let me have them before I die. First, help me never to tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say “Who is the Lord?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.
So what do I mean by wisdom being hidden in our foolishness. The same core motivations that drive our foolish behavior and choices also drive our wise choices and behaviors. We are 2 sides of the same coin. A coin is made of the same material, but depending on which side you look at you will see a different face or side. Same coin though. We are similar.
In addition to being a student of the Bible and follower of Jesus devoted to God and his ways, I am also a student of the personality framework called the Enneagram. I use it a lot and the wisdom of the enneagram is confirmed by the Bible and especially the book of proverbs, at least as I see it. This doesn’t mean we are to have faith in it or believe in it. It is just a helpful tool that can help us see and understand what the Bible is already telling us.
In Christian tradition there are seven ‘deadly sins’ and seven virtues. The enneagram is similar but it has expanded it to nine. Each ‘sin’ has it’s converse ‘virtue’, but at the core of each is the same motivation. For example the same core motivation that can drive someone to have pride can also drive some one to have humility. I will use myself as an example.
I tend to struggle with the sin of sloth 🦥 or laziness. The virtue of this or the flip side is diligence, or right action. My core motivation is peace and harmony - in enneagram speak this is the number 9 or the peacemaker. This makes total sense, because when you think of peace you think of stillness and quiet etc… When I am operating in my full humanness and ‘flesh’ or foolishness and only concerned with the present moment and how I feel now, this can cause me to find my solution to my desire in various forms of ‘laziness’, being ‘checked out’, ‘why bother’, merging with others, procrastinating, ignoring, delaying, diffusing, being quiet, being still, being busy but not ‘productive’ - lots of really fun stuff. 🤦♀️
If I stay ‘stuck’ in this mode it can interestingly enough create a lot of chaos aka foolishness in the bigger picture. The flip side of this when I am ‘awake’ and operating from my more divine potential, aka wise self; I take decisive and consistent action and I am engaged because I see clearly that in the bigger picture this is what brings true peace and harmony to my life. This requires me to always be thinking about longer term consequences, vs. immediate ‘rewards’. It movitiates me to have an opinion, have difficult conversations, work hard, be productive, be my own person, move (rise and shine😎😉) etc.. Same core motivation just different perspective driving decisions, long term view vs. impulsive. In my personal example I remind myself I am a peace ‘maker’ vs a peace ‘keeper’. BIG difference in outcomes, choices and decisions but some underlying motivation. Does this make sense?
The book of Proverbs is telling us the same thing. It can be used almost like a personality test as well. As you read it allow yourself to be honest and vulnerable, when I say honest I mean brutally honest. What is your most common ‘sin’; Anger, Pride, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Deceit, Lust, Fear. When you can be honest you can see your core motivation and then begin to operate from the ‘high’ or virtuous or wise side of this. Serenity, Humility, Honesty, Gratitude, Plenty, Courage, Sobriety, Innocence, Diligence. Depending on the reference you look up there are different words that are some times used. But the truth is the same core motivation that drives anger is the same core motivation that produces serenity and tolerance, etc..
If we look at the verse above, this author who is Agur son of Jakeh, he seems to have an understanding of his particular temptation to ‘sin’ or be foolish it is by having too much or too little. He is also asking to not be self deceiving anymore either. He knows his path to wisdom is honesty and truthfulness. It made me wonder if he would be a ‘seven’ on the enneagram also known as the ‘enthusiast’. The core desire of this personality type is to be satisfied, happy, fulfilled and avoid being bored, sad or . The ‘foolish’ or short sighted version of this motivation is gluttony makes sense right, constantly looking ‘out there’ to get their fix and fill this void and keep themselves entertained? Conversely the same motivation can be used wisely and more virtuously, with the understanding that they have everything they need, can be satisfied with what they have, tap into gratitude. This is exactly what he seems to be saying about himself.
I don’t know if I am right here, could be totally wrong, but it was an interesting exercise. I am interested, intrigued and a student of the enneagram and of people in general. We are pretty fascinating creatures. But first and foremost I am student of God and am continually humbled and in awe that there is a such a creative, complicated, loving, patient and wise ‘somethingness’ that invites us to be more than just ‘human’ and to tap into our divine possibilities and natures to co-create life with him. It is quite miraculous and wonderful. May we all ‘wake’ up and look up and live from the bigger picture of what is possible and that it motivates and drives us to seek and grow in wisdom.
✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt
What kind of wisdom is hidden in your foolishness?
📖Tomorrows Reading
Proverbs 31
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