If you have a moment to remember your childhood, school years, then you probably remember “Homework”.
What is Homework for? To practice lessons learned in school, primarily.
Why do we need to practice? Practice MAKES perfect, is the adage, and by practicing we reinforce the lessons learned and store this valuable set of facts or functions into our brains for continued use, or as the building block of our next segment of learning.
Can you tell a child is not practicing their musical instrument away from the teaching session? Generally, for most. Though there might be some prodigies out their, most children will prove their lack of practice by their imperfection when playing for others, or the teacher, or
The story goes something like this: A youngster went up to a famous musician after a concert at Carnegie Hall. I want to play just like you! I want to play at Carnegie Hall! No, You Don’t, says the musician, else you would know this takes 8 hours of practice every day and you can only give yourself to this talent alone to be this good.
Anonymous
Think about it. We want to learn, but we are not practicing the act of “homework” to train the mind to the task at hand. We take “behind the wheel” and classroom training to prepare for the test to get our Drivers License early, and then we spend our life applying the lessons learned and becoming even better over time.
Why? This is how we grow our skill…. Practice to Perfect. This is how we prepare for next step of learning what we do not even know needs to be learned!
Here’s my thought today.
A word taught is not necessarily a lesson learned. Repeated, exampled and lived before others does not necessarily make the lesson learned.
Regardless of the number of times presented, a lesson is only learned when you make up your mind to KNOW what is being TAUGHT! Click To TweetWhen the same lesson is presented over and over and the knowledge is not caught, the presenter can be frustrated! There are building blocks to get the learner from A to Z, but not everyone is ready to progress at the same time!
Peter tells his reader that our beginning walk is as simple as milk to a baby.
As newborn babes,
desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby: (1 Peter 2:2 KJV)
Notice two things.
1. A newborn babe needs to DESIRE the milk. Without this innate hunger to receive then there is no interest to receive and thus stymy their potential growth. Perhaps part of the issue is learning how to “spark” the desire!
2. Milk…the only thing a newborn can ingest. Not the deeper and weightier subjects. Just Milk! Beginning lessons of life are learned by simple tools.
Let me ask you. Are our kids worth it to help them learn the Milk of the Word so they can grow and become? How do we get them to “want” to learn?
Not everyone learns the same way. In fact, there are dozens of ways to learn a lesson. Think about it, these 7 basic ways are the only way we truly learn something, and sometimes it takes multiple paths before we grasp the truth, learn the lesson, and then prepare to live with the knowledge and share it with others.
- Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
- Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
- Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
- Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
- Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
- Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
- Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.
Knowing how someone learns helps you to give lessons the needful way. To force someone to learn something the way they are not bent to learn will be like putting a square peg into a round hole. You will have to shave, cut and pound away at the learning process, hoping you get the message across. If you force learning with this method you will have imperfect results!
It may be necessary to change your teaching mode for the individual need and not assume everyone is learning the same way!
Solomon
Train up a child in the way he should go:
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6 KJV)
The Hebrew word for “Train” actually means “To Narrow“, figuratively to initiate or discipline This same word is used in other parts of scripture to describe an act of “dedication“.
- A Personal House by a man (Deuteronomy 20:5)
- The House of the Lord by a King (Solomon – 1 Kings 8:63)
- The House of the Lord by a Nation (with Solomon – 2 Chronicles 7:5)
Thus, this scripture is teaching how we train a child, by narrowing their options for a specific purpose, and the result is a focus of dedication to their purpose. Other translations indicate the meaning to consider the child and the way they are naturally framed, and provide the training that is unique to their skills and abilities. I’m thinking about the differences between Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, just to name a few. Each had a different bent of life to live and they were trained to meet the needs each had.
Though we like to apply this to learning scripture, the broad context is to truly consider the child, what they gravitate towards, and help them learn by presenting them the opportunity to grow in their natural gifting. But along the way, they will still need to learn other basics.
It’s only fragmentary, but I now understand why I HAD to take ALGEBRA and GEOMETRY! Although Math was never my strong suit. In fact, the precursor test of the SAT showed me that I should never do anything that required deeper math skills….
To prove them wrong I went into Computers and Finance where math was used all day long!
Of course, all of this applies to the Fruit of the Spirit within us, our Spiritual Gifts, as well as our Ministry Callings just as easily. Paul tells us there are 5 Ministry callings (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers) that probably sum up all the major functions found within the Church (Ephesians 4:11). Every one of us need to learn how we fit into the Ministry of our local church.
If all of this is true for a child, should not adults equally do things that dedicate and narrow their own focus to that skill, gift or ministry that they are called towards?
The Apostle Paul understood this and it’s probably my favorite teaching from his writings and I have covered it in multiple blogs labeled “Thimk and Do“…
Those things,
which ye have both learned,
and received, and heard,
and seen in me, do:
and the God of peace shall be with you.
(Philippians 4:9 KJV)
By this scripture we see that the learning process of the adult is probably no different than the learning process of a child. (Following list found in Cambridge)
- Learned – This verb implies lessons learned while he was in their presence.
- Received – In this case, the verb is associated by those lessons or truth passed on by another. The Apostle uses this verb in other writings and shows that the process of learning a truth passed on to one from another.
- Heard – Publicly or Privately, Here or There, In conversation or from the Pulpit.
- Seen – You physically saw the example with your own eyes and witnessed the examples practiced in life.
- Do – Practice the habits of the above verbs.
- And by doing all of these things we shall live with God’s Peace!
Closing Thought
While pondering this thought I found an article from Isaac Asimov describing how we have had to change our education styles multiple times in the centuries leading up to today. Not only a Science Fiction writer, but Asimov was also well educated and wrote about the changes in the field of science and space travel predicting the changes that we would see in the future. So. Perhaps he understands the concept of learning and being prepared for the changes that will happen in the future.
He describes this scenario: What we needed to live in the agriculture arena of yesteryear is different than what you will need in the industrial age, which gives away to our present technological age. Imagine if the education you received to plant and grow crops was all you received during the era of high-tech. Ill-prepared, you are, no matter what grades you received.
This is what I’m thinking about as our children age into what is called a “post-Christian” era, and truly the statistics are showing this to be the truth in our nation.
Imagine trying to teach children the same way we learned 50 or 100 years ago. In this hyper sensitive and broad world of electronics and worldly ways, we must find new paths to teach and example the truths of the Word of God that are thousands of years old, but make them relevant to the life our kids live today.
Parents. You must find ways in your own life to example Paul and Peters teaching from above, and always point these lessons back to the Truths found in the Bible and from the Teachings of Jesus!
Church. You must be the example of Godly habits all day long because your children are learning from you by your example. Not only by the method with which we live on the job, or in the marketplace, but also by your attendance. Giving. Worship. Prayer. Holiness. Attitude. Faithfulness. Go ahead, add all those Gifts of the Spirits and Fruits of the Spirit!
In fact, everything you are speaks to the next generation. Everything you do shows them the way forward. While it is true with Children, it is also true from Generation to Generation, and from adults finding their way through the broken landscape of today.
Our focus, yours and mine, must be on Everyday Learning, Receiving, Hearing, Exampling…. And never forget the act of Doing. Can you look back over 2018 and see where you focused on teaching someone
Our goal should be that we are always learning, and then sharing with others.