"Just remember," Barbara Jordan once said, "the world is not a playground but a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday but an education. One eternal lesson for us all: to teach us how better we should love."
I don’t think she meant we’re not allowed to enjoy life. Instead, she had come to value the lifelong process of learning. Not just in classrooms, but in every moment life offers. She saw life as a training ground, one that deepens our capacity to love and expands our ability to serve.
When we understand that, we begin to glimpse wisdom. And wisdom, the writer of Proverbs says, is one of God’s great gifts: “Happy are those who find wisdom.” Not because life becomes easier, but because life becomes richer.
Of course, life's lessons aren’t always enjoyable. They’re often difficult, uncomfortable and even painful. Maybe that’s why we sometimes distract ourselves with temporary, surface-level things. But the more we recognize the steady hand of God’s wisdom, the more we begin to trust what it’s shaping in us. The world says life is about getting ahead. God says wisdom is what guards your soul. 
I’ve tried to teach my children and the young people I work with to learn to learn. For much of my own education, I was focused on passing tests, memorizing facts and guessing what the teacher would ask. I passed, but I didn’t grow. It wasn’t until I learned to learn that things started to come alive. Even the Bible became more vibrant when I saw it in conversation with history, literature and life.
Wisdom is not a list of things to memorize. It's a path you walk. And as Proverbs reminds us, “All her paths are peace.”
Today, don't just go through life. Learn from it. Notice the peaceful paths of God's wisdom.
Stay blessed...john | 
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