Isaiah 50.4 says ‘morning by morning, he awakens me to hear’. There are no shortcuts, this is a lifetime pilgrimage.
I remember, when I started in banking, how much good judgement seemed to matter (e.g. in assessing lending requests). I wanted to have such ‘good judgement’, but of course, it is not something that you can learn from books. My academic path was not all plain sailing, but I seemed able to study and pass exams. This was different.
There is no substitute to perseverance and time, and – regrettably, to failure and/or suffering. Like a pilgrimage, judgement, wisdom (or whatever you want to call it), is mostly learnt at a walking pace, day by day. That’s not to say that every day is the same; there are times and seasons. Some parts of the journey seem more significant than others. There are stand-out parts to most people’s life, and there are ordinary days.
But, it is not just perseverance. It is, also, paying attention. Why is it that some people will go through challenging times and seemingly learn nothing, some will be scarred and lessened by the, and some will be deeply changed in a positive, growing, way? I am sure the answer is more complicated than this – but I do think that a key part is whether they pay attention to what is happening as a learning experience
There is a text in the Bible (Romans 8.28) that says that God works good in everything he does for us – everything. Sometimes, that’s hard to swallow. But, I do think that it is fundamentally true.
So, day by day, morning by morning – with attention, thought, and a good heart; we may find our ears are opened to hear and learn … and we may even become able to comfort others with the comfort that we have received … words to sustain the weary.