The Wisdom Weapon: Watch Your Wake, and row gently 

By Drake Hunter | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Yes, we’ve climbed into this little boat before. Earlier in this series, this familiar rhyme helped us explore joy. Apparently, Mother Goose wasn’t finished teaching us. This week, we’re returning to the water with another instruction from Jesus—and a reason to look behind us.

From my beach days in San Diego to fishing in Colorado today, I’ve traveled on fishing boats, ski boats, cruise ships, and ferries—including crossing to England. Different vessels, different destinations, but they all have one thing in common: as a boat moves through the water, it leaves a wake. And everyone nearby feels the impact, whether they’re traveling with you or not. That idea gets interesting when we shift from boats to human beings.

In his book “Integrity”, Dr. Henry Cloud uses a ship’s wake to illustrate what we leave behind in two areas: what we accomplish and how we treat others along the way. Our results matter, and so does the way we influence those around us. Do your words and actions leave a wake that reflects Christ’s wisdom and innocence or otherwise?

Last week, The Little Red Hen helped us explore compassion and participation—including voting. This week, Jesus offers empowering guidance: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16, ESV), inspiring hope that we can influence well.

For those of us familiar with the biblical story of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), recommending a serpent may seem unusual—after all, remember the serpent and Eve. But Jesus calls His disciples to be discerning while staying true to their integrity. Eve let the serpent influence her, lost faith, and watched her character falter as she struggled with the consequences of her wrong choices that led to the harsh reality we all face. Jesus, by contrast, understood that He was sending His disciples into danger. They needed to recognize what they faced and respond thoughtfully without adopting the deception or cruelty around them. Simply put, they needed to:

Pay attention to the waters ahead—and the wake behind. 

Notice how Jesus holds wisdom and innocence together. Cleverness can help us win an argument, influence a situation, or get our way. Wisdom, though, invites us to ask whether our methods and destination are worthy of the journey. This brings us back to our little nursery rhyme: “Gently down the stream.” We often remember the merrily part. But “gently” encourages us to consider how we’re moving and how that movement affects the people around us, keeping us grounded in the wisdom and innocence of our faith and, in turn, yielding the fruit of the Spirit: gentleness.

Gentleness takes divine wisdom when our convictions are challenged. This is why, in the book of James, chapter 3, James reminds us that wisdom from above is pure, peace-loving, considerate, merciful, and sincere—qualities that help us face difficult moments with Christ-like grace and gentleness that keep us safe and sound.  

Moving through the crowd with inconsiderate and careless motives, we can keep harming others long after we’ve stopped talking. Like a snake striking, we carelessly accuse, humiliate, or make a confident claim we never bothered to verify. We leave the conversation like a scorpion poisoning its victim, never realizing, or perhaps not caring, resulting in people drowning in our wake.

Of course, a wise wake won’t always leave everyone comfortable. Wisdom rooted in soundness or truth can challenge or correct us, or even penalize us—and that can sting. Healthy, wise boundaries can also disappoint people who are selfish or lack self-restraint. We can’t measure wisdom simply by whether everyone applauds or feels good. Instead, we can examine our motives and methods, along with our willingness to repair any harm we cause. Did I help someone understand, or did I overwhelm them? Did I listen before answering? Did I accomplish something worthwhile while treating everyone involved with dignity? Or, as Dr. Cloud would put it, “Is someone water-skiing off your wake or left for shark bait?” If it’s the latter, recall our verse today: 

“Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

So, keep rowing your boat and get involved. Move toward what’s good, and take time to enjoy the journey. Before congratulating yourself on how merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily you’re rowing toward life’s dreams, take a moment to look back and notice the wake you’re leaving.

How’s your wake?

As always—God is here. God is able. God is good.

I’ll be continuing this conversation later this week on the Just Sayin’ podcast, where we’ll take a deeper look at The Wisdom Weapon: Watch Your Wake.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but we support the author’s constitutional right to express those opinions.