Lessons

       I learn so much from my students. I've learned patience and laughter, and what it's like to have a job I absolutely love. And lately, I've been learning lessons about myself.
       I have a student who likes to argue with me. I can be sitting right next to him, looking at his paper and know the correct answer to the question he is struggling with. And he will still argue up one side and down the other that I am wrong. This makes me think of myself arguing with God.
       I think I know what's best. I think I know because I feel it intensely or because my limited understanding simply can't grasp the bigger picture. And so, I argue with the One who designed this life. Why do I do this? Why do I cause myself so much heartache and strife? Because I am still a stubborn student who is learning. Learning to trust that God is truth and peace and that He is trustworthy.
       Another thing I am learning about myself from my students is that sometimes we as learners are all to eager to jump ahead and simply rush through the work. As a teacher, it frustrates me to no end, when a student asks for my help and then two seconds into my explanation, they brush me aside because they think they have all they need to get the right answer. Often, this results in them asking me for help again a few seconds later, because they still don't get it. Surprise surprise. In this life I do this far too often. I hit a road block and I cry out to God for help. But then instead of being patient and allowing myself to be helped, I rush ahead, trying to get to the end of whatever the problem is. A cycle of frustration.
       And then there are the times when I am trying to get my students to understand something, or work through the stages of some assignment and they get hopelessly confused, and I realize that I have thrown too much at them all at once. Sometimes as a learner, you just need the directions in simple, concise, steps which are given to you one at a time. Now, as the saying goes, God never will throw more at us than we can handle, but we sometimes will do this to ourselves. We want to see results in our lives and so we pile on the goals and steps and instructions, only to find ourselves hopelessly confused and frustrated. Whatever lesson you find yourself struggling through, quit trying to follow all the steps at once. They are called steps for a reason. You take them one at a time. Trust in the One who created the steps and you will get through.
     It's almost Friday so smile big and soak up the Springy sunshine!

"You are always a student, never a master. You have to keep moving forward" ~Conrad Hall