Wisdom (Help) Comes From Many Sources

I’ve always been a fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882). Emerson was a minister, a poet, an essayist and philosopher.   He visits me occasionally in these early morning hours through the written word.

Have you ever read something in a book that spoke to you and when you wanted to refer to it again have been unable to find it?  It happens to me a lot these days, and I thought I was alone in my dilemma.  What a relief to know that others, even sharp fellows like Emerson, have experienced the same frustration.  

Emerson wrote, “I suppose every old scholar has had the experience of reading something in a book which was significant to him, but which he could never find again.  Sure he is that he read it there; but no one else ever read it, nor can he find it again, though he buy the book, and ransack every page.”

Or have you ever thought a “thought” in a passing moment and then let it slip away?  Emerson writes:  “Look sharply after your thoughts.  They come unlooked for, like a new bird seen on your trees, and if you turn to your usual task, disappear; and you shall never find that perception again…”

Will Rogers visits me occasionally, too.  Unlike Emerson, Will Rogers was not an educated man—he was just an Oklahoma cowboy.  Yet, Will Rogers, just as much as Emerson, provides wisdom for the living of my days.  His quips are simple and easy to understand, if only I remember them: “Don’t squat with your spurs on.” “When you’re throwing your weight around, be ready to have it thrown around by somebody else.”  “Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.”

Then there is Kris Kristofferson, singer, songwriter, actor, Rhodes Scholar, and an ardent admirer of the poems of English poet William Blake.  An unlikely source of help you may say, and yet he has helped me greatly as I seek to learn how to pray: “Why me, Lord, what have I ever done/To deserve even one/Of the pleasures I’ve known/Tell me Lord, what did I ever do/That was worth love from you/Or the kindness you’ve shown/Lord help me Jesus, I’ve wasted it so/Help me Jesus I know what I am/Now that I know that I’ve needed you so/Help me Jesus, my soul’s in your hand/Tell me Lord, if you think there’s a way/I can try to repay/All I’ve taken from you/Maybe Lord, I can show someone else/What I’ve been through myself/On my way back to you.”

“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth (Psalm 121)” and from those through whom He speaks to me and helps me, like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Will Rogers, Kris Kristofferson and so many, many more.