By: Jenni Taylor

I imagine Sophia, a regal lady liberty look alike, with a crown of stars and symbolic thingamajigs in her outstretched hands, long life on the left and riches and honor on the right. Then I imagine her as just Sophie, the tall, nondescript aunt that lets the nephews and nieces scour the pockets of her big brown overcoat for toys and treats, or maybe silver and gold and rubies in this case. Proverbs says she is a tree of life, and I imagine her as an old southern tree, her roots spread out and her branches giving green goodness to the birds and squirrels and children brave enough to climb. I picture myself hugging that tree, letting Sophia’s bark warm under my skin, and figure if God ever got married it would be to her, Sophia the tree, and they would be one with the earth and sky. I suppose they already are, in a way, married and connected and one.

When Solomon was a little boy, God came to him and asked him what he wanted. More than anything, Solomon said, he wanted to be wise. God was so impressed with Solomon he decided to give him wisdom along with all the things he could have asked for and didn’t- riches, glory, and honor.

Wisdom is worth it. Not only should we be searching after her, but she is actively looking for us as well. Proverbs tells us she is in the streets, calling after us. Solomon wanted her. So do I. She’s not something you claim as your own, or use for the sake of using, or any of the other things we tend to do to good women on this seemingly god-forsaken planet. Sophia is not owned, she is given, and given through herself. Nothing is required of her, and yet she requires everything of us. For to be wise, we learn humility, love, patience and strength. We learn to wait and listen, and know her pockets go deeper than we could have ever imagined.