I saw a small boy struggling to pedal his cycle across a little rough road. My normal self wanted to reach out and help him out, but I resisted the temptation to help him and watched him take efforts and do it on his own. It took a few minutes for him but he came out with a confident smile because now he had learnt how to ride on this particular road.
I believe God does the same with people, he puts us into situations to teach us to handle them well. Jesus knew he there would be storm on the way, still he asked the disciples to take the boat and cross the river. It is necessary that we maintain an attitude of a good student wanting to learn life lessons from every situation in life that we go through. Here are 5 tips of learning and growing, that I have learnt from others that will help you to learn and grow exponentially.
1. Honoring People: One of the best ways to learn is by observing people around you. You can and should learn from their strengths as well as their weaknesses. The Bible tells us to Consider others better than yourself (Phil 2:3) You would never learn from anybody that you don’t respect and honor. It is only in a culture and atmosphere of honor that learning is maximized. Respect and honor all people of all ages, caste, religion and race! And you will find something you can learn from all of them.
2. Reading Books: The next best thing is to read books, starting with the Bible itself. In the Old Testament the Kings were expected to have a personal copy of the Torah and read it all the days of their lives so that they may learn to fear God. (Deut 17:19) Reading is a very effective tool to learning and growing. The books you read can have a positive as well as a negative affect on you, so be careful of what you read. If you find it difficult to read books, you could try out blogs or magazines that would help you grow.
3. Thinking Good: Our ‘thought life’ is where all the learning and unlearning happens. Many a times we have nothing to do but just sit and think. I don’t know about others, but I love to learn with my thoughts. I love to think and ponder and wonder and meditate over things. Philippians 4:8 reads: Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK about these things. (emphasis added) Our thinking develops our attitude to life, people and circumstances around us. If we do not have a healthy thought life, we can never have a healthy attitude nor a healthy social life.
4. Handling Reproofs: One area where many people and even men of God fail today is in the way they respond to corrections. The Bible calls you stupid if you don’t like being corrected. (Prov 12:1) We should know how to accept our mistakes with humility. Even if the opposite person is blowing things out of proportion, it is ok to say, “I am sorry.” That’s wisdom. “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.” – Wisdom (Prov 1:23)
5. Consistent Everyday: Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. (Prov 12:1) This is another place where most of us go wrong. It is in the area of being consistent and disciplined. When we loose our consistency, we are back to square one in our learning curve. And we have to start from the scratch once again. If only we could discipline ourselves, we will be able to learn consistently and as a result grow as a person.
I hope this helps you to learn and to grow in and through what ever situations in life you go through. Have you learnt anything new today? What other principles have helped you to learn and to grow? Would you please share in the comments below?