Phronesis

​Adriano made a mistake. The Uruguayan was given $500 in pesos from his uncle to help pay for his tuition. Instead of paying the University of Montevideo, he loaned it to a friend who claimed his mother was sick and unable to pay her hospital bills.  Later, Adriano found out he had lied to him and used the money to gamble. When the school bill was due, the friend couldn’t pay him back, so he had to explain to his uncle why he dropped a class.  ​​

Uncle Leo was frustrated with Adriano when the young man shared his predicament.  He decided to teach him a valuable lesson. “Adriano, I commend you for caring about your friend. But you didn’t exercise good judgment. What could you have done to prevent this?”  
“Uncle, I could have talked to his mother first to verify his story?”
“Yes, that’s right. So now you will miss a course, which will put you behind in graduating, but that is the consequence of hastily giving money to someone who took advantage of your friendship. I expect you to work for me for two weeks to help me put in a garden, and then I will pay you the pesos so you can enroll next quarter.”
 
Meditation
Proverbs 6:1-5—My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor or entered into an agreement with a stranger, you have been trapped by the words of your lips—ensnared by the words of your mouth. Do this, then, my son, and free yourself, for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power: Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor. Don’t give sleep to your eyes or slumber to your eyelids. Escape like a gazelle from a hunter,like a bird from a fowler’s trap.
 
We all need wisdom in determining ends, and the means of attaining them, and this type of wisdom is called phronesis.  My friend Doug, who shares a love for obscure words, alerted me to this term. Wikipedia describes phronesis as mindfulness that implies good judgment and excellence of character and habits.[1]  Socrates proposed that phronesis was a necessary condition for all virtue.
            
Practical wisdom values honesty—the ability to admit when we have done something wrong. It extols humility—the capacity to set aside pride to do what is right and to give respect. It lauds sensibility—the understanding of when to confront and make an issue of something and when to be quiet and abstain from judging. 

The Bible, particularly the book of Proverbs, is full of practical wisdom to help us negotiate life. There are seven months each year with 31 days. Since Proverbs has 31 chapters, imagine how helpful it would be to read through this book seven times! 
 
Inspiration
“There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading. The few who learn by
observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence and find out for themselves.”—Will Rogers

©2023 Daniel York  ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you want to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed, subject to the inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)


[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phronesis