A Love for Learning
By Shirley Mitchell
“The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”
Isaiah 50:4
I recently took a test at work that identified my strengths through the book Strengths Finder by Tom Rath. The results pinged my top five strengths. I was amazed how well the test captured who I am. One of my strengths is that I am a learner. In the book, Tom Rath says, “You will always be drawn to the process of learning. The process…is especially exciting for you. You are energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence…This Learner theme does not necessarily mean that you are striving for the respect that accompanies a professional or academic credential.” A learner just loves to learn. He goes on to say that some learners teach because they learn more.
This made me evaluate the fact that I also can’t stop teaching others. One Sunday this summer, two of my three daughters were ill so we stayed home from church and did church at home. I led the girls in praise music and then began Bible story and prayer. An hour later, I’m still going strong, and they are still listening. I spent the afternoon teaching my two youngest daughters how to sew. I reflected over the summer and realized that I had taught 10 Girl Scout badges. I had taught my daughters to paint, encouraging them not to evaluate their work but to risk expressing themselves with their paintbrush even if they thought the picture looked badly. The neighborhood kids, Charlie and Bryanna, came to the house, and we pulled up a chair for them to paint, too. I even painted Renior. I must say my painting was surprisingly very good for someone who has never drawn and painted before and who proclaims to be an engineer and lover of mathematics, not art. The more I thought about it, I realized it when I’m watching my daughters’ soccer coaches give them instructions. I am fascinated with how you teach a young child the sport of soccer.
Dictionary.com says that “learn” means “to acquire knowledge of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience; to become informed or acquainted with, ascertain; to memorize; to gain (a habit, mannerism, etc.) by experience, exposure to example.”
Moses received from God the instructions of how to build the tabernacle. God instructed him in their tent of meeting. Zechariah instructed King Uzziah in the ways of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success (2 Chronicles 26:5). Esther followed Mordecai’s instructions as she had when he was bringing her up (Esther 2:20). The entire book of Proverbs is about a wise father providing instruction to his son. Jesus gave His disciples instruction for their missionary journeys (Mark 6). Paul gave instructions to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.
At an Omega choir luncheon, I sat next to a man named Jeremy who plays the violin for the choir. He told me a statistic that I cannot substantiate to find whether it is true. However, it resonated with me. He said that once a person is rejected, his IQ goes down 25%, and he stops wanting to learn. Isn’t that interesting to ponder? He was saying that how much we are willing to learn depends upon how much the trusted relationships in our lives accept us. I received his information even though I can’t verify it, but it makes sense. When I look at the kids at school who love to learn and the kids who are shrinking back from it as early as elementary school, I see a correlation.
I realized that through Bible study God has given me a love for learning and for teaching. I love to learn more now than I did while I was in school. I realized that it was because I had rid myself of those feelings of rejection that plagued me for so long during my teenage years. I had been filled with the acceptance of God. The stronghold of rejection had been torn down, and I was free to learn!
Let me ask you, how is your love for learning? When you were in school, were you always eager to learn? Or was there a turning point in your life where you wanted to stop learning? Is there any form of rejection that has happened in your life to stunt your willingness to learn? I am not saying that if you do not love to learn as much as I do that you have a stronghold. However, I am asking you to think about if rejection has played a role in how much you desire to learn. Oh, how I would love to share our answers together! For now, let’s settle for one of the greatest things that we could do for each other – prayer! Love you, beloved. Keep loving our Father!
Pray with me: Most gracious Father, You have said You are willing to give us an instructed tongue. We can know the word that sustains the weary. You can waken us morning by morning, waken our ears to listen like one being taught (Isaiah 50:4). We want to be a people who has instructed tongues. We want our daily words that can sustain us as we toil on this dry land. We want to be awakened by You. We want to respond to Your wake up calls in the morning. Wake us up while the day is fresh before we have sinned. Instruct us in Your ways.
Lord, help me to find all acceptance in You. Others may have rejected me in my past, but I found the One with the supreme opinion. You have not rejected me. You have spoken good words about me. You created me and relish in every part of me. You esteem me. You chose me. I am Your inheritance. You have everything, every treasure in the world. You own it all; yet, You just desire my heart because You find it to be the greatest treasure of all. Cleanse me of feelings of rejection by others. Fill me with Your love.
It’s in Jesus’ Name that we pray, in the Name of the Lion of Judah and the Lamb of God, in Yeshua’s Name, Amen.