What's Dangerous?

         The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. (Proverbs 27:12)

Sometimes, seeing danger and taking refuge is comparatively simple.  It means you stay in your car and don’t clamber into a field to get a selfie with a buffalo or a grizzly bear. Other times, it’s a little more difficult and complicated. There’s a movement among some to become more prepared, more able to take care of oneself and one’s family. It ranges from planting a garden in containers on a balcony to stockpiling to withstand an apocalypse of any variety while living in virtual luxury.

I don’t know whether it’s fortunate or unfortunate that moving far along the continuum to the apocalypse end is difficult.  You have to become your own gardener, livestalk manager, plumber, electrician, dietician, cook, army, physician, inventory control specialist, seamstress, weaver, potter, etc. This is part of the reason folks had such large families. It wasn’t a lack of awareness of biology, but an awareness of the need for more hands to do what was needed.

 I’d love to add most of these (and many more!) to my skill sheet, but here’s the reality: prudence does not lie at either end of the spectrum. This is one of the things the ancients taught. Prudence and wisdom are found somewhere between the two extremes.

A second challenge in this verse is the word danger. Sometimes, we fear things we needn’t fear. Other times, we don’t fear what we should. Wisdom involves discerning where the danger lies. As an example, I fear marketing my books, but the greater danger is in not marketing them.

The third challenge is in the word refuge. We tend to like to think of a refuge as a place in which we can hide and do nothing while someone else takes care of the situation. A refuge can also be a tried-and-true idea or routine. That’s one of the refuges I’m trying to establish. What do I do when for my garden? How can I organize my life so I don’t feel as if I’m going to war every day or fighting battles that don’t need to be fought? That takes us back to figuring out what’s actually dangerous and what’s drama?