Proverbs 8:1-5

8 Does not wisdom call?
    Does not understanding raise her voice?
² On the heights beside the way,
    at the crossroads she takes her stand;
³ beside the gates in front of the town,
    at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
⁴ “To you, O men, I call,
    and my cry is to the children of man.
⁵ O simple ones, learn prudence;
    O fools, learn sense.

Do you hear it?  I mean, literally, has your heartbeat slowed itself down to hear the call of Lady Wisdom? Do you find that she is speaking to you now, in circumstances and places that you may not have felt before?  The word for “call” in verse one is “qara” – to call with the name of God. Oh the beautiful imagery that speaks to my heart here – she is not heckling us, nagging us – she calls us with the highest name, the name above all names, she calls to our very being and identity – through the name of God. Did you catch your breath when you heard her cry? She proclaims His name- and it washed over us and awakens our senses, bringing us to life again. Does your heart lift her voice to echo Wisdom  as she  reaches our hearts through the proclamation of His name?  

“Understanding’ here is “tabuwn” – or the personification of a teacher. Solomon paints a picture of Lady Wisdom that he continues to add layer after layer to.  I find myself drawn to her, as if she is an old friend.  One that is to be trusted as she proclaims my identity through His name.

She stands at the highest point, lifting her voice.  The highest point has so may layers for me:

·      She can be seen from far away

·      Her voice carries through the valleys and the streets

·      Her ways are higher than my ways.

At the Crossroads she takes a stand.

·      How many crossroads do we encounter in a day?  A choice between folly and Wisdom?

·      If we slow down, Wisdom is standing at this crossroads…waiting to teach us a higher way.

At the entrance to the city she cries out to us.  We do not find our Lady Wisdom lurking amongst the streets.

At the doorways she cries out.

·      This means to me – that even if we find ourselves at that doorway that beckons us into sin – she is still with us!!  There is no place that she can not go to reach her pupils.  EVERY SECOND is a crossroad- it is never too late to turn around and make the choices through Wisdom!!

Her cry is meant for adults and children, as we impart her ways into the next generation.  We are never too old to hear her, and never too young to have her ways wash over us and begin embedding into our spiritual DNA.

For this week – I wonder, what does Lady Wisdom look like to you?  Where do you see her?  On a mountain? In the streets? Can you capture her in your journal pages?

Lets say that you are uncomfortable drawing, or painting her. 

·      Try collage – cutting her out.  It doesn’t even have to be just one woman that you cut out – you could piece her together through many attributes of woman that you find a visual connection with, in terms of Wisdom…eyes from one woman, hands from another….etc

·      There are so many free coloring pages on the internet – could you find a page that you like and color her in and put her in your journal?

·      Reminder: as much fun as we have with the artwork and the color, this is about deep spiritual truths that we are exploring and breathing into our daily atmospheres. The process, and the interaction with God, is far more important than what your pages look like at the end of your week.

·      Throw away the rules and the bondage to “it looking good” and jump into the pool of creativity and the dance He calls us to.  Your pages represent a dance with the King of Kings, a Holy interaction…..who cares what it looks like?