She opens her mouth with wisdom, and kind instruction is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31 Evangelical Heritage Version
How does a Christian woman learn wisdom? The good Christian answer is to read the Bible. But how do people get called wise? Not wise guys, just actual wisdom? People called wise are often older and well respected. There’s a phrase I love that says: “Growing old is mandatory, growing wise is optional.” Funny, but true. Nobody takes the advice of some elderly people while others are respected and people search for their advice.
I think wisdom comes with experience.
A wise person is someone who’s been there, done that, and can now give advice about what worked and what didn’t. You shouldn’t ask a terrible cook how to make a meal for your in laws. You would search out someone who was a great cook in order to make a great impression on your in laws.
We also shouldn’t ask for advice about how to balance life from someone whose relationships sucks, or their home isn’t taken care of, or their finances are a mess.
A Proverbs 31 woman is able to teach with wisdom because she’s lived her life and figured out how to be loved by her family, respected by her staff, and financially stable. She’s well respected by her community because she’s figured out how to be successful most of the time. Because she knows her priorities and figured out the balance of family, home, and work (probably with her family’s help) she is trusted to give advice.
The Bible can help shorten the road to wisdom, since it was written by the best brain in existence (God) through some people that had a lot of experiences. Wisdom that spans centuries is in one book that anyone can read. It can tell us where our priorities should be and how to live happy and content. But first, we need to open the Good Book and let God speak to us through it.