O.K. I admit it. Everyday I read my horoscope. Today was particularly interesting. "What did you do last year that really made you a better person? And what would you change if you could? The answers to these questions will help you spring forward, rather than drag your feet into the next month."

So, I sat this morning over my coffee and reflected back over 2006 and all that it held. I think I am a better person for many of the lessons I learned while on my sabbatical…..the art of slowing down, the gift of ripe strawberries freshly picked, quiet prayer, beautiful mountains, gazing into the faces of loved ones. I think I am a better person for having learned how to launch a child off to college and learning to live differently in your household with that change.  I think I am a better person for learning more about grace, how it moves in my life, how I sometimes ignore and then rediscover its presence.  I think I am a better person….I hope I am a better person.

I believe we all hope that we are better people with each passing year. The Wisdom texts of the scriptures were written down so people could continue to remind themselves of the Holy’s presence and movement in their lives, so they might be better people with each passing year. They were also meant to remind people of their own inner wisdom that we so often forget in the daily-ness. This hope of "being better" is really more about being wiser, finding depth in our living. More than two thousand years ago the prophet Haggai wrote in the Hebrew scriptures: "So now….think; take stock; what do you really want? You eat but still hunger; you drink but still thirst; you clothe yourselves but can’t get warm; and your wages run out through the holes in your pockets."

It is somehow comforting to me to know that the ancients shared my questions….our questions. What do I really want? For what do I hunger, thirst? The spiritual knowledge for which, I believe, all humans seek knowingly or unknowingly is not only universal but transcends time. We all seek to know and be known by the Holy, to be connected to the Mystery,to grow into "better" people, to know what our Creator’s call on our life is.  Some of us have easier beginnings, some know how to learn from our mistakes, some are still searching for the right question, some stand just on the brink of amazing wisdom.

Wherever we are on our wisdom journey, may God grant us courage and patience, today and every day.

"She will give…the bread of understanding to eat, and the water of wisdom to drink."Ecclesiasticus 15:3