Some mornings I wake up feeling the weight of the curse. We are all still here living the same story, watching the world destroy itself from this inside out. This is a cycle that repeats itself over and over. It seems that abundance often births a lack of wisdom. We start to believe in what we have- our resources- more than we believe in the one who gives us everything. We start to believe in our own “power” when really maybe that “power” is actually a soul test, to see what we will do with it.

But enough about that.

I worry about the young-uns. Partly because they are inheriting a world far different from the one I had growing up. I know that most oldish people have felt like this through the ages. Like the world is going to hell in a hand basket. It seems like a lot of threats (like killer bees) never manifest and we get stuck in this feeling of false security. Because bad things DO happen. Untoward things have been proven to happen every day. The most common unfortunate event slated to occur is our own demise. But that event is often obscured by the aliveness of now. The distraction of now. Distraction is a useful tool to make sure we never give a thought to the story of what happens next.

And so I worry about the people who haven’t had a hand full of decades to gain some sort of wisdom. Because it took time and experiences to get me to a place where I think I love the God I have tried to serve since I was a kid.

This old gal Martha once said that it takes a lifetime to learn to love your mate and I think she was right. It’s taken me this long to feel like I see God with tender eyes. And it’s not like I have been hostile this whole time. I just followed the path. Did what was right as much as I could, and learned to believe by paying attention to the way He has taken care of us. Prayed endlessly. Took him with me through all of my trials. I didn’t read the whole Bible through until recently, even though I had read much of it, and that has been fascinating. Turns out it’s not just a book to beat people up with (and I never thought it was, but a lot of people do).

And so I worry. Actually, I grieve (that word demanded to be used) for my people who are less far along on the path of life. I worry about their future because that are facing things that may rob them of the time they need to figure things out. Wisdom comes gracefully to us over the years, it seems (unless you specifically ask for it, which I recommend everyone do- sooner than later).

James 1:5 says that if you ask for wisdom, it will be given to you. But sometimes we lack the wisdom (or insight) to ask for wisdom. That’s a problem. But maybe if we know to ask for wisdom while we are young, we can skip a lot of the BS of being unwise. I’m not sure about that because a lot of the time we need a kinesthetic experience of why things aren’t good, or we need to learn about some crappy stuff first hand so we can help other people handle their crappy stuff. So maybe we still need our errors to really experience the fullness of the wisdom experience. Either way, God can make sure we get there.

So I believe there is hope. Because Time is not God. It is not the length of our time that saves us.

But hopefully God will drop down some deep wisdom fast for our youngsters to slay the dragons that surround them. And because we acclimate to easily to the chaos around us (humans are really good at that) it can’t just be an external experience. Wisdom is an inside job. And this means revival. The bringing back of something dead or dying. A rebellion against the way the culture (current grown ups) are pushing. That youthful need for rebellion might come in pretty handy to get that whole wisdom thing really rolling. There will just have to be a lot of wisdom squoze (yes, squoze) into a shorter amount of time. Because the God who took me so long to really know (and I realize I really know nothing, still) will not let our children down. He won’t let US down.

Amen?