“You always have something to offer. Are you brave enough to believe that? Brave enough to share your wisdom?” Annie F. Downs, 100 Days To Brave

As I write today I’m flying to the UK to take my son to university. At home, my daughter is looking after her younger siblings, making their packed lunches and dinners, taking them to school and supervising routines. I have no doubt whatsoever about her capabilities. One of the first situations she had to deal with was soothing the anxieties of siblings who just said goodbye to their brother. She talked to them and also messaged me, and I reminded her she had wisdom to share. She felt that, because she wasn’t me and because she wasn’t much older than them, she might not be much help. I reminded her that to them she was experienced and knowledgable and not at all unqualified. I encouraged her to listen to them talk about their anxieties just as she had been listened to by me. I encouraged her to share with them her experienced of relying on God when she felt life was a little confusing or things were changing. And I reminded her they would love to hear her pray with them; that however ineloquent she felt her words might be, her prayers would be soothing and powerful to them.

Her willingness to be brave and share her wisdom helped her siblings be brave. Her experience in relying on God reassured them they could also. Being even some years older than them gives her wisdom from experience. I urge her to ask God for more wisdom over these days so she might lead her siblings well. And I pray that she might be encouraged by her own boldness and by how God imparts his wisdom to her as she asks for it.

There’s always someone following by a few steps that we can love and with whom we can share wisdom from God. We can try to be open to see those neighbours and brave enough to love then in this way.

In your own life, who is the wise voice you will be thanking God for today?