11-1-20 The Greatest Teacher
Quote: “Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward.” – Oscar Wilde
I am a teacher by day, mom by night. I went to college to learn how to create tests and give tests. Tests give us data and help drive our instruction. I have been giving tests to children and adults for 20+ years. In fact after I’m done blogging, I’m making an exam tonight for my college students to test their knowledge on reading strategies. Before I begin an assessment with my kindergarten students, I always say to them: “Don’t be afraid. Tests are just a way for you to show what you know!” Tests are definitely a key part of the education system.
But life doesn’t often follow the rules of school. It does the opposite. The test comes first. Then we learn the lesson.
When we go through hard times and our resilience is tested, we call these times the “valleys”. Sometimes it is so tough it feels like we are in a desert. We often feel alone and uncomfortable. It’s not fun. We’re constantly wrestling with change, conflict, and hard decisions.
I received some wisdom one time from our pastor. He said when we’re in the valley, instead of asking God, “Why me? How much longer am I am going to suffer down here?! Are you even up there God?”, put a 180 degree spin on it. Instead ask, “Father, what are you doing? What lesson are you trying to teach me here?”
When we ask God what he’s trying to teach us, it puts the emphasis off of us and our needs and directs us back to him. It makes us look for the lesson he is trying to teach us. He is the ultimate teacher. He wants us to keep growing and maturing into the people we were created to be!
Sometimes the lesson we learn by going through a hard experience is easy to see. We say to ourselves afterward something like, “Well, didn’t see that coming! Lesson learned…never going to do that again!” But other times, it might not be so obvious. Sometimes he is silent for a reason. He may want us to go out of our comfort zone and lean on someone else rather than trying to do it on our own. He may be wanting us to grow closer to him, the ultimate healer and helper. Or he might be preparing us for something bigger that is coming up in our lives.
Either way, experience teaches us lessons that no book or teacher could ever teach us.
That’s why being a parent or guardian is so crucial! A couple years ago, I was doing a book study on the book “Praying Circles Around the Lives of our Children” with a group of moms from my hometown. It said instead of praying for your children’s pain to go away, pray them through the pain. Taking the pain away before they’ve learned the lesson short circuits their learning processes. Children and teens need to experience pain so that when they are older and we’re not with them, they know how to get through hard times on their own. We can’t protect them forever! From that book, we took these nuggets of wisdom and made them a part of our morning prayers over the boys before school: “That when you are faced with tough circumstances today, that your struggles will only go away after you’ve learned the lesson God wants to teach you. We pray for you to strongly get through the pain on your path today.”
We’ve got to move out of the way and let God teach them!
Whether you’re in the middle of a test and struggling in the valley or if you are reflecting back on the lesson you learned from the mountain top, know that God is with you. David wrote a famous verse in the book of Psalms that is recited in churches all over the world that says, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” (Psalm 23:4) That’s a promise.
Look at your tests as opportunities to learn from the greatest Teacher that ever lived!
