An In-Between Space

³ Indeed, if you call out for insight
   and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
   and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD
   and find the knowledge of God.
⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; -- Proverbs 2:1-6

Wisdom cannot be discovered when life is so frantic that one can only run all out to keep the pace set by the treadmill on which we're strapped.  It can also not be found retreating to hide in a corner and never interacting with real life; for real life is the crucible out of which wisdom is born.  As Octavio Paz writes: "Wisdom lies not in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two."

The space between the two is meditation and awareness of one's place in relation to the Divine One who guides all creation to it's perfection.  It is the space where shoes are removed --removed so that racing fast and hard over rocks and thorns cannot be accomplished, and one is forced to slow down to a more reverent pace; a time to notice the burning bush, and the smell of the rose, and the labor of the solitary ant dragging a crumb back home.  It is the space between where love meets lost love, where worship meets service, comfort meets hurt, and help meets helplessness.  The in-between space is where tears run in the dark ruts of misery while seeing the moon and stars and knowing transcendent hope in a God big enough to dry the tears and bridge all disparities.  It's the space where we call out to God for insight, wanting it desperately enough to wait and to be taught.  The lessons come, the knowledge is gained; wisdom is received - the wisdom of silent respect for the very large, deep truths God holds in the mystery of His cloak that He wraps over and tightly around us.  

Wisdom does not come easily, it comes from the hard juxtapositions of inseparable good and bad that life throws together head-on in the messy parts of victory and defeat, love and hate, life and death.  Wisdom from God is granted, always over the course of time, experience, and prayer.  Truthfully, wisdom does not provide answers necessarily, but it does supply a bridge -- not so much in this life as to cross, but as a place to stand respecting the depths and splendor of the chasm between difficult choices we must make and survive.  Standing on this bridge with wisdom earned through the valor of confronting the painful and the glorious we can more contentedly simply be comfortable being still and letting God be God.  This is the God we serve, and I'm grateful for wisdom granted through it all.  Amen.