The Front Porch, and the Beginning of Wisdom

Summer nights, sitting on the porch with my grandfather, was the beginning of my love for wisdom.

 "Granddaddy," as all thirteen of his grandchildren affectionately called him,enjoyed sitting on the porch after supper, in his rocking chair, while he puffed away on a good cigar. 

My Grandmother did not like his "cigars" thus banished his smoking from the house. I never minded the aroma of a good cigar, and grandmother's cigar rule created good one on one opportunities with granddaddy. 

When visiting my grandparents there were times  when I had the opportunity to sit with my grandfather on the porch while he enjoyed his cigar. This usually took place after supper, or sometime we would go on occasional walks in the field behind his house checking out the mares and foals.

My grandfather would puff away while we "studied" as he liked to call it, on various subjects. As granddaddy puffed away he would break the silence and ask contemplative questions. Most often the questions derived from a genuine love my Grandfather had for life, and nature, the things God had made for our enjoyment.

The passage below is from Proverbs , a book of wisdom. Chapter 3 takes you to the source of: wisdom, understanding and knowledge. God is the source of our discoveries in science. What ever field of study  that can be named: anthropology, biology, physics, engineering, geology, oceanography, sociology, psychology, philosophy, astrology, theology, etc. 

You and I have an open invitation to join God for one on one time as we meditate and search for answers. I like to call it silent internal, 24/7, continuous conversations with God, i.e.prayer. 

The reverential fear of God, that comes from a love for God, is "the beginning of wisdom." To me It is like being on the front porch again, listening, contemplating, and learning with someone I admire and love.

Proverbs 3:11-20 (NIV)

Blessed are those who find wisdom,
    those who gain understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver
    and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies;
    nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways,
    and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
    those who hold her fast will be blessed.

By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations,
    by understanding he set the heavens in place;
by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
    and the clouds let drop the dew.