“Walk with the wise and you become wise, but the companion of fools fares badly.” Proverbs 13:20

Growing up, my basketball coach would tell us that we needed to practice how we were going to play. This idea that walking through the motions wouldn’t make us better, but putting in everything we got would. So we would practice against the older team regularly. Every week we would scrimmage the older girls and get our butts kicked, and every week we worked hard and tried to beat them. Without success.

It was frustrating, and felt fruitless. Until we played our first official game. We out-hustled, out-scored and out-played our competition. Practicing against more advanced players helped us to improve drastically and play with confidence.

We walked with the wise. We became wise.

God created wisdom. She [wisdom] can feel somewhat elusive at times, but is created through experiences and people. God puts you in situations to grow in trust and love. He guides people into your life (and out of it) to show you another form of His love. God is also there for moments of comfort when wisdom has shown the tough side of our humanness.

• Have you ever had a life-changing phone conversation? The kind that didn’t have awkward pauses. The kind that felt like 20 minutes but was actually 2 hours? The kind that ended and you felt motivated, invigorated, and so completely loved?
• Have you ever had dinner with an old friend and felt completely peace? The kind of peace that comes from years of experiences and story-telling. A natural connection that doesn’t need to make sense or be defined, it just makes sense.
• Have you ever sat in a meeting and felt completely unprepared–like, you were invited by mistake? As if you didn’t belong at the table, but by the end, you started to understand your purpose?

God instructs us to surround ourselves with the wise or be lead astray by the foolish. This one sentence is so deep. He is instructing us to walk with Him and His wisdom. He is telling us to be careful about who we let into our inner circles, for we “are who our friends are”. God is guiding us to pursue wisdom and understanding over blind belief or misguided attempts to be popular, or cool, or “in”.

Walk with the wise and you become wise. Wisdom is the friend who can motivate through words or bring peace with sheer presence. Wisdom is an answered prayer or song on the radio. Wisdom is that client meeting where you rise to the occasion and surprise yourself. Surround yourself with smart people, good people, inclusive people. It doesn’t serve the world for you to do otherwise.

You are worthy of good. Good friends, amazing experiences, and true love. Don’t let thoughts or actions of others imprison you in foolishness. Don’t settle for friends who don’t make you feel worthy or lead you down dark paths. You are not a tree, you do not have roots pinning you to this place in the world. Move. Walk with the wise.

Father God, thank you for true friends and meaningful experiences. Help me discern the right path. Guide me to people that love you and love others. In times of uncertainty or difficulty remind me of your grace and wisdom. Be with me as I strive to grow in my understanding of you and my purpose. Amen.