Where Wisdom Dwells

My grandfather was a coal miner. He sank into the deep shadows forgotten by foot. The path he took into the heart of the earth was one no bird of prey knows. The falcon's eye never caught sight of what my grandfather saw. The proud beasts  that walk upon the the earth never walked the path my grandfather took beneath the earth. Even the fiercest lion could never go where my grandfather went. As a little girl I knew my grandfather was the mightiest man alive.

When I was twelve my grandfather had a stroke. That summer I sat on a stool beside his wheelchair my head on his lap. The love I had for that mighty man only increased as I saw the strength of his heart. My grandfather would have me read the gospels to him. He never tired of hearing the stories of Jesus over and over and over.

One day I found my grandfather crying. I now know that depression often comes when people have had a stroke. My grandfather had been a shepherd in Italy in his youth. I found a picture of Jesus holding a little lamb and brought it to him. "Granddaddy, you are like this little lamb Jesus is holding in his arms. When you were young and strong you were like the other lambs in this picture running all over the field. But now Jesus holds you close to his heart."

I often think of my grandfather when I read the Job 28. It talks about men going into the heart of the earth and overturning the mountain at it's base. The question that is being asked is "Where then does wisdom come from ? And where is the place of understanding?" The search for wisdom takes us to the heights of
the heavens and the heart of the earth. Yet where can wisdom be found and where is the place of understanding?

A twelve year old girl with her head on the lap of her paralyzed grandfather found the place where wisdom dwells. Wisdom dwells in the heart of God. When all other things are taken away and what you crave most is to hear the love of God read to you over and over and over again. When you finally rest in the arms of your shepherd as the one he came to seek and to save.