I love learning
Nothing makes me happier than drawing closer to God and gaining new wisdom, playing new music, thinking or writing something that I haven’t thought before, or hearing ideas that I never considered–but nothing is more fulfilling than watching others come to new places of emotional, physical, spiritual, and intellectual awareness and strength
Learning Curve
My attention span is tremendously short
Even on the internet, it is rare that I read a full news article or blog post, and I can barely sit through an entire movie unless it is really good or I am enjoying being next to Amy on the couch so much that I don’t want to move
When it comes to learning, my brain is funny in that it will either pick something up and totally get it or it will decide it isn’t important and just ignore it
I do this with weird things that I don’t want to, like birthdays, appointments, other people’s feelings, etc…
All throughout school, and in life for the most part, I made a point of only focusing on things that I wanted to, and often didn’t learn the basics. I got away with this because I was usually able to learn things very quickly and not have to start with beginner steps
This was sometimes an effective shortcut, but there were a lot of cases where I developed bad form because I didn’t start with the simple steps that were designed to ingrain good fundamentals–I just “did”, but didn’t always learn why
One Step, Two Step, Three Step, Four!
One great thing about God, is that he never lets his children move past lessons that we need to learn
For example, because God loves us and wants us to grow, we:
- Never make more money than we can handle, since it is better to have “enough” than be rich and have it corrupt us
- Don’t find that “perfect someone” when we want, only when we are ready
- Are passed up for promotions that we feel we deserve, until we learn how to really earn one
However, there are times when he gives us exactly what we want even though he knows it will be damaging, just to teach us a lesson
Our Grand Plans, Undone
Just like Israel heading off to what they thought was a party in the desert when they left Egypt, sometimes God gives us exactly what we think we want, and it can often result in total disaster
This can be seen when we:
- Get that “amazing” job we have always wanted, but then find ourselves separated from God and lose our families because of all the stress and time away from home
- Finally start dating that amazing person we have been chasing, but they turn out to be horribly abusive and awful
- Get in with a more elite social circle, and start partying every night to the point of developing a serious drinking problem and losing our closest friends
There Is Always Another Level
As we go through life, experiencing both success and failure on various levels, we constantly learn and grow during the process
And, sometimes, after big periods of growth or sudden revelations, we get to a point where we really make it to the top in some way
Maybe it was a new job, lofty financial success, a long-time personal goal met, a degree, a new pog…
But, the reality is, when we get to that amazing “next” level we worked hard to reach, we eventually realize that…
There is another level
Doh!
Humility And Learning Go Hand In Hand
No matter what, our journey of intellectual, emotional, and spiritual growth is never over
It is only limited by when we decide that we are “fine” or stop pushing ourselves
Imagine if the sun just stopped coming out one day or flowers decided not to bloom and spent their days closed up, how awful!
But what if we choose to stop growing by being lazy, complacent or just stubborn, this is even worse!
It is incredibly important to acknowledge that we are always capable of learning something, from people, at times, or in areas of our lives that we may not expect
Uhhh… I Was Dumb But I Am Not Now!
Out of all the things I have experienced, learned, or achieved in life, nothing has impacted me more than the things God has revealed or shown me as I have sought after spiritual growth
God’s revelations, and the growth they trigger, are like breathing fresh air after sitting in traffic for hours smelling exhaust, it feels so clean and good, nothing can compare
Whether they were revelations about my character, the world around me or pure, godly wisdom, these things have always left lasting impressions on me, shaped my life for the better, and brought me closer to him, and closer to life itself
For example, as I have grown, God has shown me that:
- I had a lot of anger and self-defense mechanisms in place that I didn’t realize caused me to lash out at people when I felt insecure
- My enthusiastic enjoyment of drugs and alcohol was separating me from my friends, myself, and God
- I spoke before I listened
- My choices in friends were causing me to be led astray in ways that I didn’t even realize
- I was so unhappy due to the fact that I was far from God
In response to being shown these things, I worked very hard to fix them, which led to me having an amazing life of happiness, freedom, and spiritual intimacy with God
What Could Be Better?
I can’t imagine trading the intimate, close times with him that have led to amazing revelations for anything else in the world, mainly because everything else just fades and is totally pointless anyways
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