The Beginning of Wisdom

I recently read an interview with the poet Dana Gioia, who was asked how he found time to write poetry while working a full-time job. He replied, “Even in business when I worked ten hours a day, I always found an hour or two each night to write. This schedule didn’t leave time for much else, but I was very happy. It’s good to give up things that don’t matter.”

The last line caught my eye: “It’s good to give up things that don’t matter.” How do we develop the wisdom to discern what does and does not matter?

Last week, Sr. Mary Irene Nowell offered the Mount community an overview of Old Testament wisdom literature, in which we learned that the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord, meaning awe about who God is and what God does. Therefore, it appears that one way to discern whether something matters is to determine whether it increases our sense of awe of God and how God is at work in our lives.

I must say that watching TV 12+ hours a week before I joined the monastery didn’t do much to increase my sense of awe. On the other hand, the classes I’m taking, my time in communal prayer, and my observations of God at work in the lives of the Sisters at the Mount truly have been “awe inspiring.” People often ask how things are going for me at the Mount, and now I know how to respond: Awe-full!