They teach wisdom and self-control; they will help you understand wise words. They will teach you how to be wise and self-controlled and will teach you to do what is honest and fair and right. They make the uneducated wise and give knowledge and sense to the young. Wise people can also listen and learn; even they can find good advice in these words. Then anyone can understand wise words and stories, the words of the wise and their riddles. Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord, but fools hate wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:2-7)

Ponder It.

What is your experience with ice?

What topic would you like to know more about?

In what area of you grown in knowledge in the last year?

Receive It.

Did you know…

• The ice that people climb is so strong that if the ice axe goes in just a centimeter, the ice is generally strong enough for the climber to pull up on.
• For shorter, less-steep courses, climbers use the ice axe to move themselves up. For steeper, higher slopes, climbers also wear crampons, which are shoes with metal spikes.
• Alpine ice starts as snow and over time consolidates into hard-packed ice, sometimes called blue ice. Water ice, which forms anywhere you find runoff or seepage, is more varied. It may melt and freeze, form over snow, create large bumps and ridges and turn into icicles.

It’s amazing how much we realize we don’t know when we start to learn about something. We might not have had any idea something even existed before, let alone had as many details and information involved. We learn the basics, then we find out more and more. The more we uncover, the more there is to uncover!

It’s like that with our faith journey. The more we learn, the more we have to learn, or so it seems. And then there is the unlearning we need to do, because we understood something based on the limited information we had or our limited ability to understand something at the time, then we grow up, access different sources, seek God’s truth firsthand, and change and grow. It’s important we seek the right kind of information and knowledge, that it is applied to doing God’s work, to knowing Him better. It’s really more about wisdom than knowledge. And we can’t get wisdom by accumulating degrees and information. We gain wisdom by yielding to God and however He reveals himself to us and changes us.

Live It.

Hold a piece of ice in your hand. Look at it closely for several minutes. Consider the details you notice because of your focus. Watch the slight changes it makes. Commit to focusing on God today and inviting Him to change you every step of the way.