Becoming a Lifelong Learner
Twenty years ago, I walked an indoor track with a woman from my church. Dotsey was an older, wiser soul with whom I had formed a friendship and from whom I had learned much. She told me, “I’m taking Chinese courses at the local community college. I love learning. God just keeps teaching me new things all the time!”
I thought (to myself, mind you), I hope by the time I get as old as you I’m done having to learn things!
Since then, I’ve revised both my desire to learn and my notion of what “old” means. It should not surprise anyone, then, that about six years ago I made a promise (or prediction) to my daughter, our youngest child: “When you go away to school, I’ll go to school too.” I had talked about taking classes to get a doctorate for a couple of years. I had also procrastinated because going back to school sounded like a lot of work and money spent.
What if I couldn’t do the work, or what if my best wasn’t good enough in that new, demanding arena? Also, like Goldilocks looking for just the right bed, I searched for just the right program that would exactly fit my needs. Honestly, I had sworn “no more school” after completing seminary. I loved learning, but I was getting too old for someone else to be telling me what to do and when to do it.
God had other plans, and I’ve learned when he does, it’s best to obey the first time. It saves a lot of unnecessary effort arguing and making excuses. It took two years longer than promised, but back to school I went, just as my daughter came home after two years away. Two years from now, I should be able to walk across a stage in Boston and have someone slap a hood over my head, saying I’m a doctor of ministry, capable and authorized to perform surgery on the church as a living patient.
That won’t be the end. My friend Dotsey made sure of that. Like her, I’ve caught the breeze that carries me toward a life of learning, always growing, always reaching for the next thing God has for me. I can’t stop. It’s an addiction, this need to learn—courtesy, I suppose, of an Enneagram 5 personality and Input as my highest StrengthsFinder category.
I hope, though, that is also a reflection of gratitude for God’s patient teaching. Scripture is filled with the value of constantly learning from him.
Through his Word, he promises his patient care when we learn difficult new things: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (Psalm 32:8 NIV).
He guarantees to be the only place we find hope as we learn—an important promise, since learning often comes with sorrow as we see more of what our world is capable of: “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long” (Psalm 25:5 NIV).
He assures us that if we learn from him we don’t have to fear getting lost or tripping over obstacles we didn’t see: “I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths” (Proverbs 4:11 NIV). And the psalmist says, “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground” (Psalm 143:10 NIV). Anyone who’s ever walked a path of twisted tree roots or scattered rocks knows the value of not having to fear your next step.
He encourages us that learning from him isn’t going to weigh us down with fear but offer us rest and peace: “‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’” (Matthew 11:29 NIV).
Forever learning is not at all the scary, exhausting experience I imagined when I talked to my friend so long ago. Instead, God tells us that when our hearts long to discover more, he offers it—open hands, crazy abundant, as far as we allow the current to take us.
We don’t have to gain some letters after our names or wear some fancy hood to be lifelong learners. Learning is a daily choice that offers God our open mind and heart to what he wants to teach us. It’s listening to another person’s point of view, seeing through our kids’ eyes and discovering their vision of a caterpillar on a milkweed leaf, or hearing stories from an immigrant or a man who fought in the Great War. It’s asking What change will that make in me today? when we look at Scripture in the morning and asking God what our next best step should be today. It’s never thinking we should be done becoming.
Maybe your openness to learning will end with you crossing a stage to receive a degree. Possibly it will result in new friendships. Certainly it will leave you thirsting for more of what God has to teach you. Regardless of our personality types, once we catch the wind of learning all the time, we’ll want to be carried away on it.
is a writer, speaker, pastor, mom of three, and author of five books. She likes to travel, grow flowers, read Tolkien, and research her next project. She believes in Jesus, grace, restoration, kindness, justice, and dark chocolate. Her passion is partnering with the next generation of faith. Jill blogs at jillmrichardson.com.
Photograph © Abigail Lepaopao, used with permission
