Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
— Proverbs 3:13
Each year, when our school district would appoint a new set of assistant principals, they would ask me and a couple of other administrators to come in and give them some advice as they started their administrative jobs. Every year, I would look at these young educators, all of them excited about their new opportunities, and I would give them this advice:
“I know you all want to do some great things in our district and want to be a part of putting some new, cutting-edge, advanced programs in place and make some important and lofty decisions. But my best advice to you on how to be a good administrator is this: don’t do anything stupid. That is it. The first rung of the ladder is to not make any bad and/or unwise decisions. Before you can be great, you have to just not be ignorant. You have to have some wisdom.”
This principle is true in all aspects of our lives. Simple things, like do not spend more money than you make. Do not say hurtful and damaging things to the people you love the most. Do not make promises that you know you cannot keep. Do not make important decisions when you are mad. Those are all common-sense statements, but statements that sometimes slip through our fingers on the way to some dumb, unwise, hurtful actions.
The scripture tells us that wisdom is to be respected. Wisdom is to be valued and sought for. Wisdom that leads to sound and godly decisions blesses our lives and the lives of others.
I know we all want to do some great things today. That is a worthy goal. But let’s remember the first rung of the ladder to greatness is this: Don’t do anything stupid.
For the Lord gives wisdom and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
— Proverbs 6:2