In the Old Testament she is referred to as Lady Wisdom. In the New Testament she is known as Sophia (which is wisdom in Greek). In Proverbs “. . . I was beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth;”
There’s something about a wise woman.
I read palms. I’m not sure if you knew that about me, but I do. I like doing it. It started off as a parlor trick but through the years I am amazed at how often I get it right. One thing I can spot in a heartbeat is a wise person. And nothing thrills me more than to look in the palm of a little girl and see how wise a woman she is. You may wonder how in the world can someone be wise at such a young age, but those who are wise know that it doesn’t matter how old you are. In most cases you are wise from birth. There are some things that we just know.
I like to consider myself a wise woman. I might not be really smart but I am wise and there is a difference. I tend to know things. I’ll never forget a friend of mine gave me a book to read, years ago. It was about life after death. After I had it read it she was just all about whether or not it was true. I told her “Of course it’s true. There isn’t anything in that book that I didn’t already know.” She was floored. It was weird to me because I had always considered her a wise woman. I think she was in some ways but not all ways.
The woman from the Old and New Testament that is the wisdom of God is also referred to as the Holy Spirit. It’s so funny because even though I consider the Spirit to be very wise, I never considered that the Spirit was female. But it makes so much sense. The Spirit leads you along, by the hand. It doesn’t pull you like a man would. It just barely takes your hand and brings you along with it.
A couple of years ago I read the book, The Shack. I had heard about it back when it was really popular but I resisted reading it. I usually don’t jump on band wagons. I bought the book at a yard sale and thought I would read it when I had a chance. When I finished I wanted to watch the movie. It wasn’t on Netflix. I would have to rent it or buy it if I wanted to see it. One day I broke down to rent it and realized later that I had actually bought it. I’ve done that before. Anyway, I watched it and was floored.
I was floored that God was a woman. I bought it that God took many faces, depending on what was needed. I bought that Jesus was a young man, that one’s not hard to take. But what got me was the Holy Spirit. Oh, I fell in love with Sarayu (it means a breath of wind), the Holy Spirit. She was beautiful and calm and all of the things that I knew that the Holy Spirit was. She might have been a flower child in another era. And she was so wise. That was what drew me to that character. If I could just watch her scenes over and over, I would.
But I don’t have to. I know the Holy Spirit. I like the idea that she identifies as a female. I like the idea that she leads me where I need to go, when I need to go there. There are times at Mass that someone will comment about a ministry I have performed and I thank them. But I know that it was the Holy Spirit who led me in that mission. It doesn’t happen all the time but I know that she is with me all the time. There are times that I write a blog post or a journal entry or something, then go back and read it. So many times I will read it and say “there is no way that I wrote that”. But I did. With a little bit of help. There have been times that I have needed to be wrapped in the arms of God and I feel the arms of a woman surround me. I do believe.
I would like to tell you that you can learn to be wise. I don’t think you can. But I don’t think that matters. We are all on our own journey and to some extent we are all wise. What I like is that we are as wise as we allow ourselves to be. Go ahead, be a wise woman.