I write about study a lot, because that’s what I do. It’s just natural. Strange, though. When I was in school, I was not a “good” student. I guess I was bright, but not smart. You probably know some of those people even as adults. They pick up new words easily. They repeat them. But they really don’t have any depth in the concepts behind the words.
I’d pick up stuff quickly, but I had (and still have) no interest in grades. The only time I cared about grades was when the report card came home and Dad gave me one of his patented 2-hour lectures about being too smart to get those grades or something like that.
But I’m curious, and I love to learn more. Then I started working in business and in “church work.” That added experience. The Beatles went to India and brought back Transcendental Meditation, but then I discovered the wealth of Christian contemplatives. Knowledge plus experience plus contemplation leads to wisdom. I’ve discovered this truth in business. I’ve discovered this in matters of the Spirit. One day you realize you’re confident in what you’re saying. You hit that inflection point where the three streams join.
Knowledge comes from study. It provides the foundation, for if you are ignorant, you will never grow. Experience comes from doing–service. Getting out into the world and working with and for people. Contemplation is also doing–of a different sort. It is the act of reflecting on the combination of learning and doing, putting it all together and understanding.
These three different activities, when brought together under the purpose of living with-God, change your life. You become more like the person Jesus and Paul and John and the others describe in the Gospels.
And maybe someday, you become wise.
Faith Venture 
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