Strata Leadership defines Wisdom as making practical application of what is learned.  After trying to explain wisdom to my two young grandkids, age 7 and 10, I defined wisdom as taking what you know and using it to make your choices.

Life presents us with many learning opportunities, but what we know does not make much difference if we do not apply it.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I struggle with having the right mental attitude.  The last few weeks, I have been listening to different sermon podcasts on Joy and Peace, and Discouragement and Anxiety.  Last Friday, I was listening to a podcast titled “Cheer Up God’s Way”.  One of the points made was that darkness is an absence of light, and that cold is an absence of heat.  The speaker proposed that a lack of cheer is an absence of gratefulness.

And even though gratefulness is not a new idea or concept to me, we have all heard how important it is to be grateful and the value of gratefulness.  For some reason the comparison of darkness being an absence of light and cold being an absence of heat gave me a new way to think about gratefulness and its effect on cheer or joyfulness.

As I continued to listen to the podcast, I went from putting my makeup on to fixing my hair.  As I begin to straighten my hair, I discovered my hair straightener was not hot.  I checked, it was plugged in and the power light was on, so I decided to give it more time.  Still the power light was on, but there was no heat.  It immediately hit me the irony of listening to a podcast on the lack of cheer resulting from a lack of gratefulness and having my hair straightener quit working.  I hate to admit how much I struggled to not grumble and grouch to myself as I pulled my hair back into a ponytail.  I immediately had to decide… is this knowledge about the relationship between gratefulness and a cheerful heart that made sense to me five minutes ago something I am going to put it into practice?

The hair straightener story is a small example, and in the scheme of life is so trivial and minor that it is hardly worth recalling.  But it is not every day that the opportunity to apply the knowledge of a life lesson presents itself immediately, and it caused me to stop and think.  Do I apply what I know?

Dr. Nathan Mellor with Strata Leadership states “At the heart of wisdom is the ability to apply a lesson learned.”  As we reflect on the character trait of wisdom, we can look for opportunities to apply what we know, which in return will make us better people, and a better community.

Originally published in the Owasso Reporter November 2017