More Heavenly Wisdom from Cody.
Sam watched Cody’s interaction with the Indians and took it all in amazement. It was so different than all the stories he’d heard about Indians.
“Why did you ride to them instead of getting as far away as possible?”
“Well,” said Cody, “To start with, I applied the first three qualities of Heavenly Wisdom. I had good motives, wanting to do good to them and to keep us alive. Second, I was peace loving, not shooting, not threatening. Third, I was sweetly reasonable, bringing them a gift. And I sought to be approachable, ready to talk with them.
“Along with this, I knew that if we ran, they would have caught us. They don’t mind running their ponies into the ground if there’s a chance for a scalp.
“Also, they respect courage. As you saw, going directly at them without firing confused them, and impressed them. In addition, I am known among their people
“How is that?” asked Sam.
Cory related his fight with Chief Buffalo Head and how he had spared the Indian’s life.
“That story, of course, was told over many a campfire. Now the Indians know that I am not against them. If they know who I am, they will probably leave me alone—and they weren’t going to find out who I am if I had run from them.”
He paused, then said, “Come, let’s go back to your Pa.” Cody said, turning his horse towards the ranch. When they rode into the yard, Sam could hardly wait to tell his parents about their meeting with the Indians.
“You should have seen how confused they were when we rode right at them,” he said, “and after Cody talked with them, they took the meat he offered and left.”
John and Amanda were amazed and thankful. Sam then went on to tell the story of Chief Buffalo Head.
“Don’t forget, Sam,” said Cody, “that this is all the result of living in Heavenly Wisdom. If I had mercilessly killed the chief, we would probably have been killed or captured today. God’s wisdom protects us from a lot of unnecessary harm.”
“Like it did with Mr. Dodge and his men!” said Sam.
“That’s right. Now you need to practice using Heavenly Wisdom yourself, Sam. The first thing to do is to memorize that verse, James 3:17. Get the Bible from your Pa and bring it here,” said Cody.
He opened to the right page and read it aloud “…the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
“As I told you before, purity starts in our motives. And then we have to approach the situation with the intent of establishing peace.
“The Greek for the next word “considerate” (sometimes translated as “gentle”) but can also be translated as “sweetly reasonable.” I like that better; it’s stronger than considerate. We can usually easily tell when we’re not being sweetly reasonable. The other words in this list are pretty clear.
“Take the time to memorize this, Sam. Wouldn’t hurt your parents to do the same. Then every morning pray through it like this.
“’Lord, help me to be pure today, pure in my motives, help me to speak and act in a peace-loving way, to be sweetly reasonable, to be approachable and submissive to ideas better than mine, to be full of mercy and good fruit and to be impartial and sincere.’ Then see what happens in your life!”
After supper John looked at his guest. “Cody, what do you plan to do now? You said you were drifting through, but we sure would like you to stay around for a while. We could use your help—and your wisdom.”
Amanda looked up, “And I think you should get to know Amy better,” she said with a womanly smile.
“Well,” said Cody, looking at John, “I would consider staying for a while. Amanda does set a good table; when I’m on the trail I only have my own sparse cooking, mostly jerky and coffee.
“Besides, we haven’t really explored the last three aspects of Heavenly Wisdom: good fruit, impartiality and sincerity. I’ll stay a while longer.” Besides, he thought, I will take Amanda’s advice and see Amy again.
Picture: some older folks visiting John and Amanda
