Winning Words 12/17/09
“To be uncertain is uncomfortable, but to be certain is ridiculous.” (Chinese Proverb) Most of what we do is because we are uncomfortable. I want to know more than I do now; I want to get out of the rut; I want to find answers…only to discover that more answers lead to more questions; and that the more you know, the less you know. Be careful of those who know it all. ;-) Jack

FROM JK IN MICHIGAN: Thank You as always for your encouragement. I like today's message; Wisdom and humility are acquired as we pass through life. Just now I am reflecting on harrowing of the process of obtaining wisdom and humility can be at times. Good thing I was naive when I started this 'journey' otherwise I might have reconsidered and turned back. FROM JACK: Sometimes we learn best when we are naive.

FROM SH IN MICHIGAN: Sometimes I've been made more comfortable by respected others who tell me they are also uncertain about the answer to a certain question and sometimes I have been made more comfortable when there is a passage of scripture or a respected someone whose answer to a certain question affirms my own thinking about the question or it's probably more precise to say that my thinking has been molded to find meaning together with theirs. Sometimes I feel that I've even been certain but your last sentence in these WW causes me to be careful of myself in case there is a tendency to know it all and cause other people to have to be more careful with me and less comfortable with me. FROM JACK: I like what Jesus said: "Whoever humbles himself as a a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

FROM DP IN MINNESOTA: Yah, the Chinese are smart! That's a good one, and today I have time to answer one of your timeless quotations! So, that is why I am so uncomfortable all the time! In days gone by I could always ask my husband any and all questions---not that he had all the answers, but he would hear me out--and that in itself would ease most uncertainties. So, I suppose I did the same for him. (not rocket science, as they say.) FROM JACK: I'm comfortable with that.

FROM PRCH ON CAPE COD: use this when preaching doubting Thomas! FROM JACK: Hey, that's a good idea.

FROM OD IN NC: I like this one a lot.

FROM ML IN ILLINOIS: i can appreciate these winning words. love, from one who spends her life on the "libran scale"

FROM JO IN MICHIGAN: Isn't that the truth? How many people do you run into that think they know it all?

FROM CJL IN OHIO: Who was it that said, "You begin to mature when you realize that you don't know it all"?
FROM JACK: You?

FROM MO IN ILLINOIS: RIGHT! The more we know, the more we realize what we don't know...goes back to the saying, "So many books, so little time..."! Good thought on this one! Thanks. FROM JACK: I can't remember hearing that saying before. Thanks for adding it to the blog.

FROM DM IN MICHIGAN: A great message! Maybe this is why I felt so out of sorts while on jury duty these past four and a half weeks. It was a real challenge being in the presence of those committed to certainty. FROM JACK: Isn't it frustrating...wanting to be certain, but always having questions? Life!