"Common Sense"

There’s a wisdom in the country,

They call it common sense,

‘Bout a certain way, to do and say,

But now it’s in past tense.

‘Cause way out in the country,

On farms and ranches, too,

The kids got raised, and quite unfazed,

By what the town folks do.

By taking care of livestock,

And doing lots of chores,

You took your turn, and skills you learned,

That opened lots of doors.

Out there we had no whining,

Just get ‘er done, you see,

Despite the pain, don’t you complain,

That’s how it had to be.

No such thing as punching out,

But more like “can” till “can’t,” 

The work you’d do till you were through,

We never thought “I ain’t.”

‘Cause Dad, he was the boss man,

We minded Mama, too,

You’d get a smack if you talked back,

It’s what we learned to do.

Manners were important,

Said yessir and yes ma’am,

You stood up straight, and always wait,

The old folks sit, you stand.

You looked a man right in the eye,

And firmly shook his hand,

You said it plain, your given name,

Respect to beat the band.

Your hat came off inside the house,

No elbows on Mom’s table,

You thanked her for, her cooking chore,

And cleaned your plate if able.

No doubt we had our faith in God,

And Sunday went to church,

What the Good Book said, is what we read,

Can’t say how much it’s worth.

When I got grown, went off to school,

I met some different folks,

Their habits strong seemed oh so wrong,

No boundaries and no yokes.

I thought maybe I’ll listen,

But I couldn’t get along,

No common sense, it made me tense,

And I did not belong.

What happened to us, anyway,

Is everyone astray,

Let’s come on back and get on track,

With common sense today.

Let’s sit down with old Grandpa,

‘Fore Jesus calls him home,

Just let him spout, get that talk out,

And make the old ways known.

And ask the Lord to help us,

So we can finally,

Start thinking right, and in God’s light,

Transformed, like Him to be.

“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you…” (James 1:5, NLT)

We all need wisdom! Wisdom is when God shows you how to apply the truth of His Word to your immediate situation. The Holy Spirit is the agent of wisdom. There are many ways He reveals God’s wisdom- through people, the circumstances, your inner peace, through renewing thoughts, in dreams, His inner voice, spiritual gifts and many more. If we ask, and listen with humble, sincere hearts, He will help us. If you were given godly common sense by the way you were raised, you should be thankful for the head-start! But if not, God will faithfully give you what you need as you need it. That is His promise, and we can count on it!

Lord, give us Your wisdom, in Jesus’ name.