One of the things I treasure most from my youth is my high school yearbook.
It’s a treasure to me, not only because I was on the yearbook staff and designed the cover, but also because of what it contains. My yearbook is a kind of time capsule, capturing and preserving memories from one of the most important years of my life. I have spent hours with it.
The same is not true of my college yearbooks. While I occasionally pick them up, I keep going back to the one from my high school days.
Not only are there pictures of high school friends and happy events, it is also much more philosophical than the college books. Why? I’m not sure but I have an idea.
Maybe it’s because we were exploring who we would become. We were asking, “Who am I? Why am I here? What will I do with my life? What is the meaning of my life?”
Now that I’m a grandparent and getting closer to the end of life’s journey, I think more about the road I’ve taken. And I wonder how my classmates’ journeys have turned out.
“Now hold on for just a minute! Are you going to get all nostalgic on us?”
Probably. But bear with me for a minute. Hear me out. There might be a pearl of wisdom here to ponder. It’s amazing what can be learned from the musty pages of an old yearbook.
When I graduated from high school, it was common for a class to pick a Bible verse as their class motto. On page 126 of my yearbook is the one our class selected: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all your getting, get understanding.”
I don’t know why, but something about that proverb connected with me and I never forgot it. It seemed to me as if God himself was challenging our class to do more than “go for the gold.”
Over the years, as the class of 1969 had its reunions, I watched many of my classmates succeed in their careers. Some received accolades for their accomplishments. Others acquired possessions and retired early.
But the question calling out from our old yearbook was, “Did you get wisdom?”
Through our schooling we received knowledge. As we pursued our dreams we acquired families, possessions and awards. But did we get what God said is most important? Wisdom.
Wisdom means learning to use knowledge and possessions and not love them. It also means learning to love our friends, our families and our God and not use them.
The Bible reminds us that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” It asks, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”
The fear of the Lord includes a loving reverence for God. It involves submitting to him and the commands of his Word, the Bible. Hopefully it will lead us to Jesus Christ who came to make a way to have a relationship with God through faith in his death and resurrection.
Remember that, as time goes by, aging is mandatory but wisdom is optional. Get wisdom.
No matter where you are in life’s journey, stop for just a minute and ask yourself, “Do I have wisdom?” It’s never too late to go back to the source of wisdom.
The Bible patiently instructs us. It says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked man forsake his way. Let him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God for he will freely pardon.”
So there you have it--timeless yearbook wisdom that, if followed, will bring you to God.
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