I Am Back

I’m back. It has been a while since my last post.

I didn't intend to stop writing. Life simply became too full, and writing was one of the things I had to set aside. I wasn't particularly happy about it, but during the pause I learned something important.

In this latest season of life, I discovered an aspect of wisdom I had neglected: Wisdom knows when to slow down, how to reconsider priorities, and where to redirect our limited energy.

What do you do when life is too full, demands mount, and your mental or physical stamina is stretched?

I had to slow down long enough to see my life as it was, rather than as I thought it should be. I had to acknowledge limits, reconsider priorities, and decide where my energy was most needed.

That required discernment. It required prudence. And perhaps most importantly, it required enough objectivity to see what was true.

I can’t do everything.

At first, I felt like a failure. Why can’t I keep up? Why can’t I do all the things I think I should be doing?

But during this same period, I began a deep reading of the Book of Proverbs. I gradually realized that I was not failing. I was learning something about wisdom.

What I began to see in Proverbs was that wisdom is not simply knowing what to do. Wisdom is learning to see life clearly enough to know what a particular moment requires. Sometimes wisdom presses us forward. Sometimes it tells us to wait. Sometimes it requires the humility to acknowledge that our time, energy, and abilities have limits.

The Book of Proverbs is, at its heart, an invitation to wisdom: “for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior” (Proverbs 1:2–3 NIV).

Wisdom is personified as a woman calling out and offering guidance. She says of herself, “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion” (Proverbs 8:12 NIV).

Is wisdom the source of discernment and prudence? Or do discernment and prudence make us wise?

I have come to believe that every virtue flows from wisdom, and every act of virtue deepens wisdom. Wisdom is both path and destination.

Sometimes that path requires us to:

• Slow down enough to see clearly,

• Discern what matters most in this season,

• Reshape our priorities around what we discern, and

• Redirect our energy toward what deserves it.

Then take the next wise step.

So, I’m back. Not because life has suddenly become less full, or because I’ve devised a better system for doing everything. I’m back because slowing down helped me discern what I want to carry forward—and writing is one of those things.