Wisdom Whispers

As I look back towards my youth, I find myself hearing the wisdom whispers from my heroes again and again.  The words I hear are very different from the first time.  I know they are the same syllables, uttered with the same tones and reflections, yet somehow they are very different.  I hear them in a different light.  I see them in a different context.  I often find them presented as gifts, even though I never placed much value on them at the time. 
In the context of today, I find myself trying to impart a kind of wisdom.  I do not think I am good at it.  It is a function shaped by age and the journey. I find myself listening to the wisdom whispers of my youth.  I wish I could have the characters talk directly.  I am confident in their words, yet I wonder.  Does anyone realize the power of a gift when it is received?  Has anyone mastered the art of receiving what is truly needed?  Will we release the gates to our soul to let another reach us in good faith?
Given the difficulties many of us, at least I, have in true dialogued based conversation, I do not think that we are/I am very different from my youth.  The range of debate, verbal fighting is extensive!  From causes of global warming and environmental pollution, to forms of commuting to work that work, and onto the role of God in society, we struggle with our ability to listen each other.  It is easy to talk when one does not care if anyone is listening.  It is easy to be critical when one knows that they hold the “truth”.  It is easy to be right when all others are wrong.  Yet wisdom’s whispers never follow this path.
If I was asked, especially in the darkness just before the dawn, to summarize the whispers of my heroes, it is found in a simple phrase; “seek God while he's here to be found, pray to him while he's close at hand.”  (Isaiah 55.6)