To be wise

If all of this is rooted in our desire that our children grow up to be people of deep prophetic discernment, we also long that they be wise. Wisdom is a matter of making connections. To be wise is to know one’s place in the world and to know the web of interconnections in which one lives. So it is important to be able to identify the migratory and nonmigratory species of birds in the neighborhood and to take delight in those creatures. It is important to know that there are foxes, and now coyotes, in the ravine down the street and to know what kinds of environmental factors make these species either flourish or decline. To be wise is to be able to make connections between the food you eat, the store where it was purchased, the transportation systems that brought that food, the land where it was produced and the people who produced it. It’s good to know why the local organic strawberries this year were so small and how that might be related to climate change. And children should know how to grow their own food and be involved in the garden work, rejoicing in the harvest. Just as we want them to see through the lies of the empire, so also do we want them to delight in the truth that is still to be received from this gift known as creation. Our prayer is that they will have a rich imagination and an abiding curiosity about this world God has given us, so that they will learn how to be careful and loving stewards of our creational home.

Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat
Colossians Remixed