Working Towards Wisdom

2 Chronicles 1-2 and Proverbs 31

It was 10 o’clock. The air was heavy with humidity and filled with the familiar sound of girls giggling from the top bunks of the cabin. Crickets buzzed. Floorboards creaked. The busyness of the day was finally settling down. I slid into my freshly washed sheets and laid down on my lumpy plastic mattress with a smile. It was so good to be home. After a long two years, we were finally back at our beloved Family Camp. 

“Hey, Casey?” One of my cabin daughters called.

“Yes?”

“Can we borrow your AirPods? We want to watch a movie together.” 

We’d barely arrived and I already felt my preachy-cabin-mom instincts kicking into gear. Here we go. “Girls, girls, girls! That would defeat the whole point and the beauty of family camp! This is meant to be a week of IMMERSION. A detox from all the outside junk of the world. I used to love the feeling when I was young, before we even had the capability of having technology in the cabin, that I was on an entirely different planet when I was at camp. No TV. No news. No music that wasn’t worship. When I’d get in the car after camp and finally hear a radio station playing secular music, it’d be like, ‘Whoa! Oh yeah! I forgot everyone else on the outside was still doing this!’ It was a great escape from everything that distracted me from focusing on my faith and my relationship with God. For a couple years after I first got a smart phone I thought, “Hey, this will be cool. I can fall asleep listening to TV at camp now.’ But then I realized I was robbing myself of that high I used to get. And its SUCH an amazing feeling that I don’t want you girls to miss out on it either. Cut all of that stuff out and give yourself a break. You’ll feel renewed!” 

Fortunately, my cabin girls are super awesome and wise (or perhaps they just wanted me to stop preaching at them) and didn’t push back at all. We went on to have an amazing week, cut off from the world, and I was delighted to return home with that blissful Family Camp high. 

Then… Saturday came. Life was returning to normal and we were back into the routine of things. The TV was on, my browser tabs were multiplying, and social media was overtaking my thoughts. I felt my fire simmering down to coals.

Suddenly it occurred to me that I needed Cabin-Mom-Casey to give Every-Day-Casey a loving lecture. “Your fire is burning out because you’re not fanning it! Why do you limit yourself by only cutting out worldly things and focusing on God that one week a year?! What can you limit and cut out right now today and everyday?”  

The daily Bible readings for today are 2 Chronicles 1-2 (on the wisdom of Solomon) and Proverbs 31 (on the virtuous woman). As so often happens, I think God gives us the right passages when we need them most. So how do these verses apply to my current conundrum? 

In 2 Chronicles, we see Solomon didn’t ask for wealth or riches, but for something much greater… wisdom. That wisdom in turn brought on all the desires of his heart. But he had to actually implement that wisdom. I feel God provided me with the teaching, knowledge and  experience to know what I need to do in order to keep my fire burning, but I need the wisdom to actually make those right decisions. 

In Proverbs 31 we read the long and daunting list of the ideal woman. It’s a popular and somewhat intimidating chapter. The virtuous woman makes her own clothes? And does all the cooking? And brings food from afar? And gets up when it’s still night time?! How does she have the time?? I occasionally ponder on this before getting distracted by the interesting part of my current Netflix show… and wait, someone just messaged me on Facebook… I’ll think more on it when I finish this oooone last round of Candy Crush. I may never know how she did all that, but there is one thing I do feel fairly confident about: I think the virtuous woman was focused. She didn’t allow silly worldly distractions to separate her from the godly tasks before her. Proverbs 31:26 says, “She opens her mouth with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”  She was wise in what she allowed to occupy her time and thoughts.

So what would Solomon advise me in his wisdom? What would the wise and virtuous woman instruct me to do to keep that fire burning? I’d imagine they’d encourage me to cut out or greatly limit my TV time. They’d probably advise me to stop wasting as much time on my phone and to use my time wisely. I think they’d love for me to make my home a holy oasis away from the world for my family. 

My prayer today for my cabin girls, for myself, and for you reading this; is that our fire and faith would be lit anew as of today. I pray that we would eliminate some of the worldly winds threatening to snuff out those flames. Finally, I pray that God grants us the wisdom to actually do it. 

-Casey Kiel

Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – 2 Chronicles 1-2 and Proverbs 31