When I was a boy at my father’s knee, the pride and joy of my mother, He would sit me down and drill me: “Take this to heart. Do what I tell you—live! Sell everything and buy Wisdom! Forage for Understanding! Don’t forget one word! Don’t deviate an inch! Never walk away from Wisdom—she guards your life; love her—she keeps her eye on you. Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding! Throw your arms around her—believe me, you won’t regret it; never let her go—she’ll make your life glorious. She’ll garland your life with grace, she’ll festoon your days with beauty.”
It takes effort, it takes initiative. This business of looking for wisdom, and seeking out understanding. I suppose the point of note here is that one cannot expect to wake up one day and discover that one is endowed with these qualities. Nay, one must actively and proactively make a conscious effort to seek out the good and right thing, and to then act upon it. This is, however, not an exercise that may be accomplished in one’s own might. It is, rather, only with humility that one may beseech the Almighty for these qualities. May it be that you and I are swift to do the same.
