A recent encounter with a black bear in the Great Smoky Mountains taught me a lesson about wisdom. This experience launched me into a Bible study about wisdom and understanding. With my findings, I suggest that Proverbs be retitled the Book of Wisdom. It has more instruction on wisdom than any book in the Bible.
“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.”
Proverbs 3:13-14
It is interesting that Solomon uses the pronoun “she.” Lizzy suggests this is because “Women are smarter than men.” To some degree, this has been true in our relationship, especially as it relates to gaining wisdom and knowledge. When our children were young, Lizzy would try to teach me about “assimilation and accommodation.” She attributes this concept to Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Lizzy studied Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and epistemology, which basically describes how knowledge develops in the brain. Child development was her first major in college. Like Piaget, Lizzy places great importance on the education of children.
Let me tell you how this worked in our family. Lizzy would propose, “We need to take our kids to Disney World.” I would argue that it is expensive and we can’t afford it. Then, I would make the mistake of adding, “. . . and they are so young. They won’t remember a thing. Let’s wait until they are older.” With this statement, I had lost the argument. Lizzy would launch into an explanation of how the brain works and how this experience would make our kids smarter. How could I say “No” to that. We borrowed the money from our retirement savings and took the kids to Disney World.
It is true that recent research about learning and how the brain works has supported the concept of “assimilation and accommodation.” The brain is looking for novel stimuli, which it processes and assimilates or files with prior knowledge that it has stored. Often, the brain needs to accommodate this new knowledge by adjusting the understanding previously held about how the world works.
Actually, researchers can see this happening in the brain. The brain is made up of billions of neurons, which are connected to one another by dendrites. Dendrites are electrolytic connectors. They trigger nerve impulses. This triggering is sometimes called firing, which can be seen using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging technology (fMRI). As novel stimuli is processed, more firing. No firing means the neurons are at rest, not active, and not growing. To grow the brain you need more dendrites, in other words, more firing. Lizzy was right! As parents, we need to provide more novel stimuli to light up our kids’ brains.
Does this work with adults too? Yes, we can even grow our brains when we are older. For example, on our recent trip to the Great Smoky Mountains, my son-in-law, Greg, grew his brain with a novel experience. Many of you have seen the video of him walking up to a bear on the trail saying “Hi, buddy, hi buddy.” Then, you see the bear lunging at him, growling. . . and Greg dropping the camera. Thankfully, Greg and my granddaughter, who he was carrying on his back, are fine. The momma bear was just scaring Greg off to protect her three cubs. The lesson: don’t approach bears in the wild. I’m sure Greg had read warnings about approaching bears, but this new novel experience made a connection in his brain that he will never forget.
Growing the brain is sometimes hard work. As a principal, students would often ask me, “Why do I need to learn Algebra II? When will I use this in the real world?” Of course, I would give them some examples, but the best answer was always, because it grows your brain. Thinking in new and novel ways is sometimes hard work, but it helps us to problem solve and apply new and different approaches in all areas of our personal and professional lives.
Does God want us to be smarter? Absolutely, we are to “study to show ourselves approved. . .” Learning is important at all ages. Some of our young people are still in school, and some of us have children or grandchildren in school. Remember, “understanding is more profitable than silver.” Yes, it is hard work. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be growing. Some of us older people think it is too late for us. But, we too can learn. We can grow. We can also teach. Let me ask this question: How many of you just 15 months ago had never attended a Zoom meeting or had never attended church online? This is proof that it is never too late to learn.
It is true that our bodies are miraculous and we may never completely understand the mysteries of how God made everything work together for our benefit. King David wrote about his wonder of this mystery.
“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
Psalm 139:14
We may never completely understand the ways of our creator. But, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep trying and learning. As my dad would say, “You can’t just sit around eating bon bons.” (If you don’t know, bon bons are cholate candies.) And, we can’t rest on our laurels. (That’s our past successes). We need to get up and keep going. Don’t let those neurons rest, make them work, make them keep firing. The bottom line is this: Let’s find wisdom and grow our brains together.
Copyright © 2023 Chuck Locklear