I have always been amazed at how infants and small children use all of their senses to absorb everything going on around them like powerful little sponges. There is so much for them to learn and they are such eager students. Parents and other adults in their lives have the awesome responsibility to teach them by their example as well as their words.
Whether we realize it or not, our entire life is a classroom and we are constantly learning. At the age of 87, Michelangelo wrote, “I am still learning.” I am also still learning at age 74. We never learn it all. “Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more.” (Proverbs 9:9) “Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15)
True wisdom and knowledge come from God and there is so much to learn from His word that I have barely scratched the surface, but here are just a few examples:
- Knowing more about God: “Then they will learn that you alone are called the lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.” (Psalms 83:18) “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” (Colossians 1:10)
- Finding God’s will: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
- Obedience: “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)
- Learning from nature: “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise.” (Proverbs 6:6) “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.” (Matthew 24:32 & Mark 13:28)
- Sharing and applying what we have learned: “Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned.” (Proverbs 5:2) “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9)
- Learning goes beyond memorizing: “And so the Lord says, these people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.” It is not enough to memorize the 23rd Psalm – you must get to know the Shepherd personally.
Even mistakes and failures are learning experiences. Sam Levenson wrote, “You must learn by the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.” Sometimes I feel like I have come pretty close. I do my best to apply the lessons I have learned so I don’t make the same mistakes again. At a press conference to announce the invention of the light bulb, Thomas Edison was asked by a reporter to tell about some of his failures on the way to that great invention. Edison responded, “I have never failed. I have, however, discovered thousands of things that won’t work.” Each of those “discoveries” brought him closer to success.
The kids are now back in school – but then aren’t we all.