Words to the Wise

Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

– John 19:40

Although the COVID-19 pandemic is delaying the 2020 Major League Baseball season, it’s still a good time to remember one of the game’s longtime stars and colorful characters of yesteryear.

And who can forget Yogi Berra? The New York Yankees catcher, outfielder and manager was a 15-time All-Star and a three-time American League Most Valuable Player. What's more, he caught a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Berra also attained the sport's greatest honor through his 1972 induction into the Hall of Fame. But the St. Louis native was also well known for his "Yogi-isms" — unique words of wisdom about everyday life that left his listeners scratching their collective heads.

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it," Berra once said. Then there was this

bit of sage counsel: "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours." And who could argue when he opined, "You can observe a lot by watching."

Although Yogi Berra's words were no doubt brilliant, Israel's King Solomon probably beat the Hall of Famer when it came to wisdom and discernment. In fact, Solomon asked God for wisdom — rather than wealth or fame — after he assumed the throne following his father's (King David) death. God honored Solomon's wise request with wisdom beyond human understanding. And great riches and celebrity soon followed.

Solomon was an effective ruler when he lived by God's standards, and he used his wisdom to administer justice throughout Israel. But despite this, Solomon tended to strike out in his personal life and make poor decisions when he took his eyes off the ball. It's through his years of "learning-it-the-hard-way" that Solomon penned Ecclesiastes, an Old Testament book that summarizes many of the wise king's observations about life.

His first observation was that this is our one and only life. And it's only through God that we can find true happiness in it. Likewise, our lives are short. Therefore, we need to make the most of the opportunities God gives us each day.

Although our lives are brief, they are more like cross-country marathons than straight-away sprints. Jesus centuries later affirmed Solomon's observation: "For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction," Christ warned his followers, "and many enter through it."  The takeaway is that we must enter the Kingdom of God via life's winding roads and narrow gate. The hard way is the only way.

Finally, Solomon wrote that everyone's hour will come when they leave this brief lifetime and pass into the next chapter of existence. And since none of us knows exactly when that will be, we all must be ready; for both when we'll die and for where we'll spend eternity.

With the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic anyone's guess these days, how can we prepare when life is so full of unknowns?

The first step on the guaranteed road to spiritual success is to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior — the One who is ready, willing and waiting to wipe away all the failures of our past and give us new life and a fresh start.

If you think it's too late in life to start over, you still have time as long as you're still breathing. Yogi Berra's wise words sum it all up: "It ain't over 'til it's over."