Well, it seems to be that time of year again. New clothes, new books, new teachers, new classmates, but same old routine. A new year of school is such a mix of starting something new, while at the same time returning to something known. And it can come with a similar mix of emotions, with excitement and anxiety in equal measure. Whether you’re starting a new year as a student, a teacher, a parent, or just someone who gets to take advantage of back-to-school sales, there is an energy that you can feel changing in the community.
This fall, let us all take the time to intentionally grow in our learning. If you put in the right effort, you might also grow in your wisdom. Learning and growing should be our main goal whenever we take on any new venture. The only alternative to growth is stagnation, and we’ve all known too many people who got stuck in one place and never changed.
As you think about the changes coming in what remains of this year, how can you embrace these words from Proverbs 1:5-7?
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
We can quickly and easily fill our heads with facts and figures. If you’ve ever crammed for a test, you’ve done this, but just as fast as you jammed those facts in, they fell right back out again. When we learn we want to learn with wisdom and understanding. We shouldn’t just memorize facts, we should learn what they mean. And when we know what they mean, we can use our wisdom to apply our knowledge.
We do this by humbly accepting that we don’t know everything. We do this by trusting God to teach us how to live.
As you head into a new year what do you hope to learn?