Scripture: Jeremiah 10:12
But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.

Thought for the Day: Wisdom and understanding. Our ancestors attributed these qualities to God, cialis and ascribed so much importance to them, that they became part and parcel of God’s creative process. Wisdom, in fact, is pre-existent and inseparable from the being of God. Wisdom is the force through which God creates all realities (thousands of years after this Judaic concept was developed, these qualities would be ascribed to Jesus Christ as well).

Biblical ideas of wisdom and understanding are much deeper than our modern view of them as simply intellectual concepts or character traits. They are both blessings—gifts from God for any human willing to notice God tapping them on the shoulder, awakening us from the slumbering fog of the commercial world. Wisdom bursts into our being when we realize there is more to life than the rat race. Wisdom leads to all kinds of understanding: that we are more than we seem (or, too often, than we are allowed to imagine); that the world is more than our physical senses allow us to experience. Wisdom and understanding show us that each and every human being, no matter their gender or color, is literally Godstuff—walking, breathing, talking, thinking, and creating this tenuous physical realm.

Tonight, most of us around the world will celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the new. Let’s pray throughout the day that 2014 brings an awakening of God’s wisdom and understanding in each of us, so that we might all move a little closer to the sort of peaceful, loving, and just existence Jesus, Buddha, Moses and Mohammed all proclaimed is not only possible, but is, in truth, the birthright of every person on this planet.

God creates change not by swinging a mighty sword, but softly and gently, through every man, woman and child wise enough to tune into God’s activity in the universe. May the coming year make us all more open to God’s infinite and eternal wisdom.

Prayer: Help me bring a little more wisdom and understanding into the world, God who is all wisdom and understanding. Awaken me to the mystical that surrounds me all the time, so I might better understand the connectedness of all things, and then respond with love, kindness, compassion and understanding. Amen.