Terry Linhart

This is a bit of a “thinking out loud” therapeutic post.  I invite you to jump in on this and respond.  

I’ve been reflecting this past month on ‘wisdom’ and what it looks like in everyday life.  The importance of wisdom seemed to pop up often – during various meetings where the future seemed unclear, while parenting teenaged children, and in my reading.  Wisdom’s value seems obvious.  It’s what separates people, yet it seems to be a rare commodity. Troll through the Internet, watch the news, or listen to people talk at your local gathering place and you’ll find anything but wisdom at work.

I think our society values something I call “reactionary pragmatism.”  Reactionary pragmatism reacts to the what comes our way each day, and elevates “what works” over “what’s best.” I’ve just been developing this idea lately and its implications in leadership and youth ministry.

The political season reveals this cultural tendency for reactionary pragmatism.  Maybe it’s my moderate stance, but I am always surprised by the amount of emotion from either side, in union with an unwillingness to listen/consider other perspectives.  We react to what works best for our party’s purposes. And yet those party purposes may distract us from a more necessary (and wise) conversation about what’s best for our country (and please read this economically).

Being pragmatic and a bit reactionary is not always bad when it comes to leadership practice, but they can be deadly if it grows beyond a practice and becomes our guiding value for all that we do.  We can easily lose our bearings in two ways:  1)  What attracts more people and 2) What helps the bottom-line.

Our market-driven economy values what attracts.  If we gain followers, sell more books, and develop ‘influence’ then we must be on the right track.  Because it’s what works.  And we, along the way, have reacted to market research to make sure we write/say what attracts more people.  And we trust that if people buy/follow, then it must mean something to them.

Or we can become concerned only about the bottom-line:  What helps us financially. We see this struggle currently in local churches and in our educational system.  We make decisions based on the ledger and not on any guiding philosophy of what a community of believers ought to be like and do.  We look at our economic forecast and let that shape the curriculum for our students with the goal of what helps them make more money (versus what creates better educated citizens).

While reading Proverbs 9 recently, I was struck by two words the NIV translators used to describe Wisdom’s opposite, “Folly”, in verse 13:  undisciplined and without knowledge. I was struck that these are two characteristics of current pop culture, a culture that, like all others before it, is drawn toward Folly over Wisdom.

Currently we are drawn to reality television, YouTube, and sound-byte articles while avoiding outlets that push and deepen our knowledge.  Teens ridicule high school as ‘pointless’ and something they won’t use later in life yet sit in front of video games and homemade movies that others put on the Internet for hours each week.  Of course, I’m pushing the point a bit here with some hyperbole. But I’m close…..

I was personally challenged in my own life as I reflected on the first three months of this year:  Where had I grown in my knowledge?  In what ways did my disciplined nature allow me to accomplish some long-standing goal?  Neither answer made me happy.  I ‘got the job done’ each day, sure. I read off my To-Do list and clicked them off.  But I was still in the same spot that I was three months ago on most of my priorities for the year.

Guide to Prayer: My favorite and long-standing devotional book

So, I’ve made a series of adjustments to my life recently and committed to the big rocks again, not in a ‘try harder’ way to get stuff done (the rocks are all tasks), but do so in a space-creating way to address the tyranny of the urgent and instill what is beautiful and best again.  Here’s a simple checklist of big rocks I will make time for each day this month.  You may consider for yourself as well:

1. Spiritual readings, Bible reading, and prayer.
2. Reflection time. (Journal or drinking coffee and being still)
3. Daily writing.
4. Focused listening to others.
5. Purposeful reading of material that matters.
6. Exercise (CrossFit)
7. Good nutrition.
8. Healthy sleep patterns.

I will see how this month goes with these in place and report back on how the month went.  What have you been working on in the areas of discipline and gaining knowledge?