We are breaking this one into two pieces too...there are two very distinct ideas that I want to really focus on for a full day at a time.  The first is this idea of ‘the path’, the idea that both wisdom AND foolishness are paths that we go down.  Typically, wisdom is had by a single decision, and neither is foolishness.  We can make a wise choice in the moment, or a foolish one, granted, but living in wisdom is making wise choices systematically, repeatedly, and as a course of routine.  Foolishness is the same...it is repeatedly making unwise choices as we move through life.  It is the ability to weave God into our daily life, making choices in a manner where we routinely pause and as that question we’ve been discussing, “What’s the wise thing to do?”, it is not making every decision on impulse, but instead asking ourselves what we thing God might say to us in this situation.  In many ways, wisdom is a skill to cultivated in that it is gained with intentionality and practice.

Why is it so hard then?  I think one thing that makes wisdom and living in wisdom illusive is this idea of compounding.  As a parallel, think about the way money compounds when saved and invested.  Each day’s interest earnings are almost irrelevant and unnoticable, at least at first, but over time the momentum of that compounding builds and eventually big gains are made in short periods of time.  But it takes time and consistency to get there.  Think about the penny saved example...you heard of this one?  If you had a penny on day one, and that penny doubled on day two, and that then again doubled on day 3.  Do you know how much you’d have after a week, or 2 weeks, or at the end of a month?

After a week, you’d have $0.64.  After 2 weeks, you’d have only $81.92.  But, at 30 days, one month in, you’d have an astounding $5,300,000.  That’s mind-blowing.  Now, in life we don’t see quite that exaggerated of an outcome, but my experience has taught me that wisdom follows a similar kind of path.  Things compound.  It is the small, repeated, seemingly mundane decisions and actions, repeated over time, that build to create a momentum in life that we all want to have.

For me, today, my question is this, “Where am I NOT experiencing positive compounding in my life?”.  I will consider where I can apply the wisdom of this path principle, as pastor Andy Stanley calls it, and I will push myself to initiate a positive action and habit, just one, to which I can build on top of over time.