SynchroBlog: A Fool's Choice.

So I have this friend......

Let's say for funsies her name is Marie. This friend is what I'd consider a pretty smart cookie. Prolly too smart for her own good, but you know how that goes. Recently she's found herself in a rather larg-ish pickle regarding, um, a relationship.

Ok, ok, so it's her relationship with her daughter, who just happens to be a teenager, aged 16. So by now, you're thinking, what the flip does this friend and her daughter have to do with God using fools?

I'm getting to that.

You see, the bible uses the word fool and it's myriad forms in various places....for instance, the Proverbs are annoyingly full of verses stating the obvious about what generally befalls a foolish person. Let's see, a few personal favorites:

"The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom." (Prov.
10:21)
"To do evil is like sport to a fool, But a man of understanding has
wisdom." (Prov. 10:23)
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he
who heeds counsel is wise." (Prov. 12:15)

Just look up fool, fools, or foolishness in your handy-dandy (wait for it.....) NOTEBOOK! Er, I mean concordance. You'll find all manner of references to these words. In Proverbs, obviously the fool is well, a fool. Just close your eyes and imagine walking down the halls of your local high school, taking in the scenery (half-dressed girls and boys whose pants ride somewhere in the vicinity of their ankles), the poetry (the 'f'-Bomb and female dogs are a pretty constant refrain), and the atmosphere (couples making out, fist-fighting, cat-fighting, or otherwise acting like toddlers....or soap opera stars.) That would be a fairly good picture of the kind of fools Proverbs is addressing.....

Then there's the fool who choses to be a fool, as in 1 Corinthians (kinda like Fort Waynians for the local crowd) 4:10 "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ...." (huh? scratching head....) or in chapter 1, verse 18: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

Here's a cool one: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." That'd be 1 Cor again, 1:25

But the verse that always jumps into my brain (and ta-da!), did so again as the synchoblog groupies discussed a topic for this month is 1 Cor 1:27:

"But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the
wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things
which are mighty..."

This verse comes after the others I quoted above...which means the kind of foolishness we bump shoulders with at the local high school isn't the kind of foolishness we're talking about here. Clear as mud? If yes, keep trudging along with me, and we might get lucky bringing this post to a satisfying close.

We left my friend dangling waaaay up there in the first part of my post, and now I shall return to her and her situation. In pondering the difficult place she's in, I noticed that both types of foolishness are at play.....Mom is fairly wise, daughter is fairly foolish. Just sayin'. But as daughter continues to choose foolish things, Mom is confounded. Befuddled. Frustrated. Helpless. Could it be that God is using a literal fool to bring this wise mom to her wits' end? I realize it's a twist to the usual interpretation, but hey, this is my blog. Go with me here.

When foolishness seems to have the upper hand (and let's face it, at least in the US and I suspect in every nook and crany on the face of the earth, it sure is having its heyday. Watched TV lately?) sometimes bigger things are at work. Maybe foolish daughter is simply the best button-pusher to get mom to look at the foolishness that's taken up a parking spot in her own heart? Maybe it's time to back that car out of the garage and take 'er for a spin in the sunshine?

I heard someone say something to the tune of "hard things in life will either make you bitter or better." When foolishness is having its sway, it's hard not to be bitter. My friend keeps holding up wisdom (using another little diddy from Proverbs that's prolly best left sandwiched between the Psalms and Ecclesiastes "My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother..." and "A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.") She keeps hoping wisdom will be the magic spell to return her daughter to a more 'upright' path in life. But the magic isn't working....at least not now. And she's facing the fact that it may never work magic. Now comes the choice. Bitter? Better? Little Debbie oatmeal pie?

It's all about trusting the Good God, isn't it? It's all about laying down our 'wisdom' to become a fool in the eyes of mainstream humanity. It's about letting foolishness be a teacher, not just to those who reject the Good God, but to we who confess a belief in the Kingdom of Love and to it's King. I think Marie is sorta-kinda getting it. Her emotions jump up and demand a soap box every few hours, but generally, I think she's letting go and letting herself freefall into the palm of God.

Which would seem a rather foolish thing to do. Or a rather wise thing.
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There's lots of other Snchro-Fools fiddling around with the idea of God using foolish things. (If any of the links are wonky, find one that works....all the synchrobloggers should have a list of those participating....)

Strength on the Margins at http://igneousquill.blogspot.com/2008/01/strength-on-margins.html

Sally at http://www.sallysjourney.typepad.com/

Blessed are the Foolish--foolish are the blessed at http://methodius.blogspot.com/2008/01/blessed-are-foolish-foolish-are-blessed.html

Fool if you think its over at http://outofthecocoon.squarespace.com/main/2008/1/14/fool-if-you-think-its-over.html

Won't Get Fooled Again at http://assembling.blogspot.com/2008/01/wont-get-fooled-again.html

Foolish Heart at http://www.erinword.com/2008/01/foolish-heart.html

Quiet Now, God's Calling at http://hellosaidjenelle.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/quiet-now-gods-calling/

God used this fool at http://mycontemplations.wordpress.com/?p=177

Ship of Fools at http://www.blogger.com/davidwmfisher.blogspot.com

The Power of Paradox at http://julieclawson.com/?p=586

That Darn Ego at http://jonathanbrink.com/2008/01/16/that-darn-ego/

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right at http://www.p2ptrust.org/blog/

Hut Burning for God at http://antiochabouna.blogspot.com/2008/01/hut-burning-for-god.html

Reba at http://inrebasworld.com/archives/493

Fools Rush In at http://www.calacirian.org/?p=750

My Foolish Calling at http://letsputthekettleon.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-foolish-calling.html

The Holy Fool at http://squarenomopre.blogspot.com/

What a Fool Believes at http://discombobula.blogspot.com/2008/01/synchroblog-what-fool-believes.html/

(a few more to come...waiting on links)