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My friend and I are currently on a small church bowling league, and we're having a lot of fun! But -- our scores are very inconsistent, with spikes of spectacular and a lot of very average! Another girl from our church has sub'd for our team quite often, and she's amazing! Very consistent with a really nice average. But--she takes lessons every Saturday for two hours. Ahh -- the ol' "take lessons" trick...
I told my friend that maybe if we didn't want to keep bowling with frustration (a low score of, say, 111 is not-so-affectionately called "one hundred stupid eleven!"), we should try taking lessons. She said, "Yeah, maybe...but I don't like someone telling me what to do. I'd rather just figure out what I'm doing wrong on my own..."
Hmm....a chronic human condition -- willful pride.
...no ones gonna tell me what to do!
...who do you think you are? you're not my mama!
...i can do it MYSELF!
We like to make fun of the "nerds" of the world...
...who hang on a teacher's shirttails, doing all the homework and the extra credit, staying after school for the tutorials to get help (and give it, if need be), who's idea of a good time on the weekend is more studying. But when their hard work pays of in a 4.53 GPA and a full-ride scholarship to a good college, we have nothing to say but 'good job' to them, and 'not so smart after all' to ourselves, who wiled away our time partying and watching TV, and who now are scraping just to get into any college at all.
Humility is often not considered the most attractive quality in this world. Submitting to authority? Wimpy. Being disciplined to learn? Boring. Listening to someone tell you what do to? Ain't interested! But we shoot ourselves in the foot when we refuse to take instruction from others, flailing around in the sea of ignorance because we refuse to take our proverbial swimming lessons.
We need to recognize that we will always have someone in authority over us, others who know more and know better. We can overcome many obstacles in this life if we will submit to those who are placed in charge and who've been given knowledge. A student mindset is definitely to our advantage.
A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. ~ Luke 6:40 (NIV)
And God is the great Teacher. But when His methods don't seem to make sense or the testing is taking forever, we want to throw in the towel and say "Forget it! This is too hard--too much work!" We feel like Daniel in "The Karate Kid", who thought he was slave labor for Mr. Miyagi when told to paint fences and wax cars...
There was a method to Mr. Miyagi's madness, but Daniel-san needed to humble himself and do what his teacher told him to, without balking or giving up. In the end, he learned more than just how to stand up for himself and win a karate tournament...he learned the art of discipline.
Can we be true students of God and His word, humbling ourselves to the Master? Are we willing to "wax on, wax off" or "paint the fence", in order to develop character that can stand up to the Adversary in times of trouble?
Oh Lord, forgive us when we refuse to listen to You, or get tired of the regimen You put us through. Help us to have a humble student's heart, desirous to learn from you the things we lack. Forgive us in our pride, thinking we know everything already. And thank You for picking us up out of the dirt when we fall on our faces. Thank you for your gracious ways, never throwing us out of the classroom of life, but continuing to instruct us in Your way, the way everlasting. Amen.
Love,
Joelene
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