Wisdom

I was struck after I posted yesterday by the apparent contradiction between the words of the hymn I used "...and I love supremely, solely, Him the holy Him the strong..." and my next sentence that love is inclusive.

Today in the first reading at Morning Prayer we have an explanation of some of the historical acts of Wisdom. And then, right in that last verse or two, perhaps surprisingly, it turns out that Wisdom heals as well.

My understanding of both is similar - that things are bigger than they seem. By pushing out all those things which would distract from loving God and giving our whole selves to God we will find that our pool of love for the world around us increases. As we become more imbued with Christ, more Christlike, more part of Christ's Wisdom then our lives and actions will reflect this.

Our denial of the worldly in a strange way often becomes an embracing of people in this world but in the right order - God first.

Then Wisdom, there is a remarkable parallel. The restoration which Wisdom offers is all embracing but,as in the case of some of those Patriarchs, it involved a removal and an upbraiding before health and relationship could be restored. That giving ourselves to God may come easy or hard and Wisdom, can pull harder than us.

For those who have not come across this tradition and are wondering, the Wisdom tradition is an ancient one, a poetic one and is often linked in Christian spirituality with a depiction of the Holy Spirit. So this Wisdom, breath of life, healing, cleansing, restoring language makes sense.

So giving all in all to God means opening ourselves all in all to God's world. This is the transformation of Wisdom, to open up and reveal, not to hide in a sort of holy huddle.