Though I love to honor my husband each Wednesday via nuggets of “Wisdom from Wyndham,” my prayer is that the words shared will help paint a vivid and personal picture of Godly wisdom expressed through actions and attitudes, I know that as I have observed such actions and attitudes first hand and have striven to incorporate them into my life–I have grown. I pray these bits of wisdom will enrich your life as well. Jim’s note (below) was written to Wyndham five years ago.

⁹  And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight
¹⁰  to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless,
¹¹  having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.  (Philippians 1:9-11 NRSV)

4 Characteristics of Wisdom

By Jim Blough

Wyndham, we have known you and your family for many years, but have gotten to know you better over the last ten years or so, first by working together when we were still in Northern Virginia, and even more so since we moved back to Boston six years ago.  There are several things that I appreciate about how you live your life as a disciple and as a leader in God’s church: 

1. Embracing the hard things.  Many of the times we have worked together have involved difficult situations—trying to help struggling Christians restore their faith and relationships, trying to balance conflicting priorities regarding missions and resources, and even trying to determine what God’s will is for my own life and family.  I have always appreciated that you never shrink from these kinds of challenges, but you willingly embrace them and give them your full heart and attention.  I admire and respect that.
2. A principle-based approach.  Not only do you embrace challenging situations, but I also appreciate how you start with principles when you try to make up your own mind or give direction to others.  Whether in a board meeting, a counseling appointment or a sermon, I find it refreshing that you continually look for godly, Biblical principles that are to guide and shape our decisions and our actions.  Those principles help to give me guidance and stability on my own journey, and I’m sure are helpful to many others as well.
3. Concern for the individual.  Especially since moving back to Boston, I have been impressed at how much time you and Jeanie spend getting together with individual disciples in the church who are in need.  One time I made a comment at a meeting, and several weeks later you approached me at church to see if we could get together and talk about it.  That showed me you had been thinking about what I said, and it was on your heart to get together and explore those comments further.  That’s the heart of a true shepherd.
4. The old and the new.  Finally, I appreciate how you have embraced the changes we have all been working on over the past ten years or so in our fellowship.  You believe strongly in collaboration, two-way communication and teamwork, yet you also remain committed to our founding principles of discipleship, commitment to Christ and his mission.  This reminds me of what Jesus said about “practicing the latter without neglecting the former.”  I appreciate that perspective that you bring to your life and leadership.

I could fill a daily blog for years with wisdom I have learned from Wyndham. However, I’ll stick with one day a week. Each Wednesday I will share wisdom gleaned, not just from me, but from our family who saw him day and night and from friends near and far whose lives he has touched.

Many of you have already told me you wish to share wisdom you learned from Wyndham. If you wish to contribute to this collection please email me at shaw.jeanie@gmail.com with the subject line—Wednesday Wisdom. If you wish to receive these blogs in your inbox, feel free to sign up to follow the blog.

I’ll look forward to meeting you here on Wednesdays. And if you would, please remember us in your prayers. It’s a privilege to have you in our lives.