Where To Find Wisdom

This past week I spent time with my family. As far as holidays go it was surprisingly restful. A couple of sick grandparents but no fistfights, no flaming turkeys. 

I got to take a drive with my dad, smoke a cigar with my brothers and take my labrador on a ride in the side by side. There was a lot to be grateful for this year. 

There was, however, a new and interesting undertone to this Thanksgiving. It was so evident that we couldn’t help but bring it up in every conversation - my little brother is having a baby. And not just any baby, the first baby. He’ll be the first grandchild for my parents and my first nephew. 

Man, how exciting. 

I will admit though, I had a hard time reading how he was feeling about being a couple of weeks from fatherhood. As happy as we all are, there was something obviously different to his demeanor. Something unsettled. 

At first I thought it was fear. That would make sense I guess if the woman you love was about to go through labor. It could have also been stress. After all, finances and time management all work much differently once you are a parent. 

But after talking with him I realized that neither fear or stress fully captured what he is carrying at the moment. He simply wants to be sure that he is up to being a good dad. It’s a tall task and I can tell that he is grappling with the weight of it. 

I’ve never looked the role of fatherhood in the face like he is, but I am familiar with a version of this feeling. I think all men do to some extent - we just want to know that we have what it takes. I doubt that ever changes. 

The truth is that we really don’t. Life is a timeline of smarts and skills acquired. We never figure it all out. But we do have a template for how to gain the wisdom we seek in James chapter one: 

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 

James 1:5-6(CSB)

It’s a good reminder that our families, employees, and friends don’t actually need us to have all the answers. They just need us to be men who care enough about them to seek wisdom from a place of genuine faith. 

Just like my brother, Hayden, we all have what it takes. We just can’t ever convince ourselves that we are the source.