Simple Wisdom
In the 18th century, books were rare and valuable. Most families owned only a Bible, and perhaps two or three other books, and even wealthy gentry might have no more than a few dozen. Today we have the wisdom of the ages at our finger tips, with powerful search engines that can find information in seconds that would have taken weeks or months to find only a few short years ago. One could make the point that our generation is long on knowledge, but short on understanding. The kind of understanding that in another age might have been called wisdom. But we are not without our modern sages.
The following lessons came to me on a rainy day via e-mail from a friend who in turn received it from a friend etc. etc. The sages of our generation send e-mail. Their oracles have become a sort of modern day folk wisdom. They are Ben Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” the book of Proverbs, the Torah, and the rest of the Bible all rolled into one. Like their ancient counterparts they digest an ocean of facts into a few wise words that make sense to ordinary mortals like ourselves.
Lessons To Be Learned From Noah’s Ark
1. Don’t miss the boat.
2. Remember that we are all in the same boat.
3. Plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
4. Stay fit. When you’re 600 years old someone may ask you to do something really big.
5. Don’t listen to critics, just get on with the job that needs to be done.
6. Build your future on high ground.
7. For safety’s sake travel in pairs.
8. Speed isn’t everything. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
9. When you’re stressed, float awhile.
10. Remember the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.
11. No matter the storm, when you are with God there’s always a rainbow waiting.
WHK