Working with kids have given me insight concerning wisdom. I was working one morning and it was time for the girls to prepare going to school. I was observing one of the girls who kept on coming out of her room without permssion. For background, in a residential facility, everything is done in an orderly way. The one who runs the routine will choose which order the children will get dressed, have breakfast, etc. Meanwhile, all other children has to wait in their rooms. This prevents kids from getting in each other's way, which could result in a fight.

    I confronted her and she responded that she needed to talk to a certain staff. I pointed out to her that it is not an excuse to just come out, that she has to raise her hands and get staff's attention first. What made this girl think that she can get away with coming out of her room without permission? I believe it is because staff gives her the benefit of the doubt and never checks out her story. She is banking on the fact that if a staff calls her out, then she can come out, and other staff will let her go. By the way, she was lying, I checked and nobody called her out. It made me say to myself, "this girl knows how to play the system."  

    A good working definition of wisdom is "working the system for your own good". What is a wise action depends on its relationship to the system. In a world where gaining money is the most important, wise actions are actions that would gain you more money. In the bible, it says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is because the Lord is the ultimate source of blessing and curse. His blessing and curse is determined by how we stand in relation to his standard of good or bad. Therefore, wise actions are obedient to his commands, and foolish actions are disobedient to his commands.

     Many Christians judge movies only on the surface, judging the movies based on its having witches, vampires, werewolves, or having bad words or too much sex. With this criteria, "The Chronicles of Narnia" would be considered bad, even though it is written by a Christian and teaches the gospel- Aslan (Jesus) died, resurrected, and will win in the end, despite the struggle with the white witch. I am not saying that we should be willing to expose our minds to anything, but I suggest using movies to teach wisdom and foolishness to our children. Minds can be corrupted and that is why we need to talk to our children about what they put in their minds.

     The movie "Facing the Giants" is commended by most Christians because it glorifies Christ. However, there is something that bothers me about that movie. It is true that when we turn to Jesus, things will ultimately work out for our good, which is becoming more like Jesus. In this movie, the man got everything he wanted when he decided to trust that God will bless him where he is. It depicts God as a genie who will remove all the struggles in our lives if we turn to Jesus, even though the Christian life is a struggle for faith. Tyler Perry's movies are better at depicting this struggle. Look at the struggle for forgiveness in the movie "Diary of a Mad Black Woman".

     On the other hand "Harry Potter" a movie much maligned by some Christians for its occultic influences has some wisdom in it. As an aside, the books were good because J.K. Rowling is a great writer. I questioned at first whether her big books can keep my interest, but it did. It is safe to reveal that evil domination is defeated in the end. Another theme in this movie is the theme of love as greater than powerful magic. It was the love of Harry Potter's mother that saved him from death in the hands of the evil Voldermort. In the least, Harry Potter teaches that love conquers evil. 

     Whatever movie we focus on, parents could never forfeit their duty to communicate Godly wisdom and discernment to their children.