I'm No Fool, No Sirree

"Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge,

but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

Proverbs 1:7

Remember Jiminy Cricket in those Disney Educational shows? He'd always sing this little jingle, "I'm no fool, no sirree. I'm gonna live to be 103! I've got brains for you and me, cause I'm no fool!" You see, when I was growing up, "The Wonderful World of Disney" always came on Sunday nights, after "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom." We'd watch an hour of "Wild Kingdom" an obviously educational show. Then the piece de resistance...DISNEY!!! If we were lucky, they might show "Lady & the Tramp" or some other Disney feature film. Often, it was D list Disney movie like the "Apple Dumpling Gang" or our friend Jiminy Cricket with an educational show on ...da da dummmm....safety or science or, heaven forbid, MATH!!! (That was before I liked math by the way!) The bottom line was that Jiminy was no fool and he wanted to teach us stuff so that we wouldn't be fools either. Well, now, I'm not sure how to measure the success rate of Jiminy's educational strategies to rid the world of fools, but I can say with confidence it wasn't 100%. I guess it was because Jiminy had enough brains for all of us that some of us saw no point in learning anything. After all, he did say he had "brains for you and me!"

As a second generation educator, married to a second generation educator, I value knowledge, wisdom, and understanding very highly. Yes, I was the kid who LOVED learning! Yes, I was also the teachers pet, yep, that was me. I LOVED reading. From a very young age I was drawn to books. I often perused my parent's prized set of Encyclopedias. I would sit for hours eagerly looking through the pages even before I could read. The pictures of strange and wonderful things piqued the interest of my young mind and sometimes overactive imagination. Once I could read, the doors swung wide and I stepped into worlds I had never experienced before. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. I LOVE to learn, to seek out knowledge, and understanding. This is just the way God wired me. I realize now that this thirst for learning is what ultimately led me to God in the first place and to the foot of the cross. It was in college that I gave my life to Jesus Christ, truly understanding what it meant.

What I've learned through my life is that all knowledge is flawed or meaningless if we do not understand nor have God's Truth implanted in us as our foundation. In college, I studied Religion. I learned quite a bit about many different world religions and many Christian denominations. I now possess knowledge about these religions and found some of them interesting, though flawed. Why flawed? Because I know God's truth and have knowledge of His Word. I know what to believe and what not to believe. God's truth is my knowledge base. It is the springboard for wisdom and understanding. Because of this, I don't chase after the world's version of wisdom. Worldy wisdom offers nothing in comparison to our omnicient God.

What does omnicient mean? Even if you know, read the two definitions below. They will remind you of just how AWESOME God is. Here's the Miriam Webster Online Dictionary defition of omniscient:

1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight

2 : possessed of universal or complete knowledge

Here's what's cool, God has INFINITE awareness, INFINITE understanding and INFINITE insight! GOD POSSESSES UNIVERSAL and COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE!!! All knowledge is INCOMPLETE without HIM! So, those who don't fear the Lord, who don't have His Truth as their foundation of knowledage are fools, irregardless of their level of intelligence or academia. Fools despise wisdom and correction. "I'm no fool, no sirree!"

I don't know about you, but I made up my mind long ago that I didn't want to be a fool! None of us do. I recognized that not only did I need Christ, I needed His wisdom, so that I could live a life pleasing to Him. That set me off on the journey that I am on today. Living for Christ and seeking God daily.

So, sing it with me now, "I'm no fool, no siree, I'm gonna live to be a 103! I've got brains for you and me cause I'm no fool!" Good job! Jiminy would be proud!

In His Love, Cathy