Learning to Love Learning

“When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:” (Pr 2:10-11 AV)

In order to mature into a person that exhibits wisdom, it begins with a love for knowledge.  We have to love learning.  Principles and truths do not come by osmosis.  We cannot place a book under our pillow as we retire for the night and expect to wake in the morning with unbridled knowledge.  I have noticed there are certain school subjects that are enjoyed by some but despised by others.  There may be a student who loves math but hates English.  Another may have a passion for history while enduring science.  Then some love lunch and recess and pretty much hate everything else.  The point is, we love what interests us.  The believer is no different.  There are those who love to study doctrine.  Some consume prophecy.  Others may love more practical subjects.  The thing is, we have to love learning.  Knowledge must be pleasant to the soul.  Without knowledge, there are no facts that lead to discretion and understanding.  We cannot cherry-pick what interests us and what does not.  We must love all knowledge.  We have to allow for all knowledge to be pleasant to the soul.

As a child, my father required that we learn music.  He started us out on the piano.  After a year of hammering away at it, he allowed us to pick our own instrument.  The majority of us chose the guitar.  One brother chose the banjo.  Another still the bass.  A sister chose the flute or clarinet.  I can’t remember which.  Another got an exemption and choose the tambourine. LOL Love you sis!  The process of learning was not an enjoyable one.  We were required to practice thirty minutes a day.  No exceptions.  Some of the chords were easy.  Some were difficult.  I broke my wrist as a youngster and it made it difficult to form some of those chords.  Bar chords were impossible.  The more I fought it, the harder it was to learn.  I didn’t believe knowledge was pleasant to my soul.  I saw learning as a chore to be checked off rather than something to enjoy.  So, like many young people being asked to do something they didn’t want to do, I fought it.  To his credit, my father never let us relax.  He pushed and pushed.  Today, I am glad he did!  Forty years later, I can pick up a guitar and am proficient enough to play.  This also prepped me to have pleasure in learning the mandolin.  Picking it up and playing the basics only took a few months.  The difference was a more mature spirit in loving to learn.

Too much time is spent on entertainment and leisure.  We are not learning because we do not love to learn.  Learning is boring.  At least that is the excuse that we give.  Learning is fun.  Learning is growing.  Learning is attaining facts so that we can understand how those facts work together.  Once we learn how those facts or skills work together, we can exercise those skills learned and express who we are by accomplishing something.  It has to start with a love for learning.  Reading a book is foreign to most.  We would rather watch a YouTube video than to do the harder work of reading.  Remember the generation that watched things on TV that taught us rather than entertain?  The after school PSA’s helped many children learn things they struggle with while in day school.  Learning is a privilege.  Learning is a joy.  The older I get and the harder it becomes to learn, it occurs to me that when the LORD teaches us, it is a treasure.  Every time we open the word of God and learn something new, it is pure joy.  Every time we hear the word of God preached and we learn a new truth it is joy unspeakable.  Never stop learning.  Study to shew thyself approved.  Memorize the word of God.  Place it in the heart.  Then God will bless your choices.  Learn of God in a way that you never knew of Him before.  Open the mind to all things divine and knowledge shall be pleasant to the soul.