April 20. The Limits Of Inexperience And Wisdom.

Most businesses and organizations are made up of teams. Many teams that have experienced members have the benefit of wisdom on their side. That wisdom can be of unmeasurable benefit when delivering value to your customers and clientele.

Think about your teams and put those people in your mind’s eye. We appreciate what they bring to our teams and especially the wisdom. But now I want to ask you to go to the other spectrum. Who are those without the experience on your teams?

Teams that have both the fresh perspective of inexperience and the wisdom of experience have many perspectives to share. Many times, holding wisdom or sharing it only with others that are wise does not maximize the use of wisdom.

Where in your company might you have restricted the use of your intellectual wisdom by isolating those that hold wisdom from the inexperienced? What is the first thing that might bring value to your organization by reorganizing the wisdom? Wisdom is not like salt that can be spread on a snow-covered sidewalk.

It is limited in its ability to be spread. One does not just grab some and throw it out. Spreading wisdom requires intentionality. What can you do in the next seven days to spread the wisdom of your team members?

If you needed to get a task done today that involved using a donkey, would you use a young or an old one? It seems to me that an older donkey would be wiser and have more training to be able to help. I think of the reputation of donkeys as being stubborn and correlate that to the idea of a younger donkey.

A young donkey that has not been trained or broken, to use a cowboy term, might be rambunctious. It might tend to do what it wants and not the task that needs accomplished. Do you recall which kind of donkey Jesus sent the disciples to get for his ride into Jerusalem?

Are you thinking of a young one? In Mark 11:7, Jesus told them that they would find a young donkey and they were to bring it. Are you kidding me? Jesus is going to make his triumphant ride on an untrained, maybe never been broken animal of a stubborn character!

Then again, Jesus knows how to use the wisdom of the Father and bring love to the world. Why not use the inexperienced, the lowest and least to make a difference for the world? That is what he does with me and that is what he does with you. We do not deserve to be used by him.

We do not and cannot do anything to make us so that we have earned his love and compassion because it is offered and given by him regardless. We do not have to be trained for the trail or the ride, we just have to be willing to come along.

We must be willing to believe and follow the directions that he is giving. Where might you consider yourself to have been being stubborn in the last month? Where might we allow ourselves to be led in the next seven days? Will we allow the wisdom of others to blend in with our inexperience?

Let us pray, Jesus, you rode in on the back of the inexperienced. You spent your time with the sick, the hurting, the lacking, the needy. We ask today that you help us by bringing those with wisdom to us. Help us to be in relationships in our world with those that are different from ourselves.

Make us at times be your servants who lack the wisdom but know your love. At other times, make us to be the ones who have the wisdom to share with someone who needs to hear a special word or thought learned from you. Guide us today Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,