Our bookshelves are lined with spiritual writings;
we're on listservs that post daily quotations from wisdom traditions;
we seek advice from those who have more insight than we do. For years
we have been seeking Wisdom through our studies of psychology, literature
and spiritual classics.
When we began to return to our spiritual roots in the Christian tradition,
we decided to check out the wisdom from which Jesus' life and message
of love emerged: the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures. During
that year of study we were amazed by the relevance that these ancient
writings had for our contemporary lives. As we tried to listen to Wisdom
calling to us in the street, we also sought to heed this ancient Egyptian
advice: Give your ears, hear the sayings, give your heart to understand
them. This edition of Watershed Online highlights our study of themes
in wisdom literature.
This is what we heard and hope to understand in our hearts:
Attentiveness
awakens wonder.
Discipline brings about
devotion.
Fear of the Lord helps
us find true north.
Gratitude leads to new life.
Honesty calls us to take up
our cross.
Humility is the path toward
love.
Our limitations of knowledge
invite trust in God.
Mentorship asks us to take
the less trodden path.
Poetry prepares us for a new
vision of the world.
Silence invites an intimate
connection with life.
Work, when linked with vision,
can be the hope of the world.
Also In This Edition
If you're a regular visitor you will notice that we have redesigned
our site. We hope that our site is more accessible and pleasant to look
at, but more importantly (read
more)
Paul Patterson reviews Mr. Timothy,
Louis Bayard's retelling of the life of Charles Dickens' most famous
character Tim Cratchit.
Lydia Penner responds to Songs
of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes,
a moving book about an autistic woman who finds inner wisdom through
understanding the world of gorillas.
Bev Patterson falls in love with Arthur Miller through his autobiography
Timebends.
Bev Patterson describes her painting Fisher
Folk and what it means to be contained in God's nets.