The Cost of Wisdom

Someone once said to me that wisdom is born from suffering. The greater the suffering, the greater the wisdom.

I'm not sure if those sentiments can always hold true. I'm also not sure if this is the only way that, apart from Scripture and the Holy Spirit, that wisdom is born. It has also been said that wisdom is knowledge most appropriately applied.

Proverbs says that the beginning of wisdom is found in the fear (awe and reverence) of the Lord. Proverbs has a lot to say about wisdom. I think of Solomon, asking for wisdom above anything else. 

What started this pondering on wisdom was the following quote shared by a friend:

Do not assume that he who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled
among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good.  His life
may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours.
Were it otherwise, he would never have been able to find these words.

~Rainer Rilke

What that quote does is change a bit the way I view the wise people in my life. And it certainly gives me a new way to pray for them. 

Could this also be another reason to embrace the difficult? If suffering is seen as a gateway to wisdom, and wisdom is to be treasured above any other earthly thing,  and if I fully realize that, could I then embrace suffering?

Suffering is a means of sanctification. I see that. I think this should be the reason I embrace it suffering. (Conform me into the image of Your Son, please.) And perhaps wisdom is a by-product of the sanctification. 

And if by pondering wisdom too long, you lose brain cells, then thinking about wisdom becomes counter productive. I realize that also.