Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls
from the highest places in the town, ‘You that are simple, turn in here!’
To those without sense she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity,* and live, and walk in the way of insight.’
In the Hebrew Bible, we find Lady Wisdom. She is a female manifestation of the Holy that has been with God since before time. It makes sense to me that wisdom would be female. My mother was the bearer of wisdom in the family. Both her parents were teachers and her mother was a published poet, playwright, and book reviewer. Words were important in her family, and my mother had a saying for everything that might need fixing. She knew her Bible, but could also quote poets and loved Shakespeare. Her sources of wisdom were broad and mixed. When life seemed uncertain, she might quote us something from the Bible but alongside it would be the Rubaiyat.
Once I left home, I was fortunate to find other sources of wisdom both male and female that mentored me in the ways of the world. People who, like Lady Wisdom of Proverbs, sat at the city gates. These people lived and worked at the places where commerce took place. They were wise in the ways of the world and in the ways of God and encouraged me to live with integrity. I am grateful for their wise ways.
From whom did you learn wisdom?