With all of our schools kicking off a new year in the past week or two, I can’t help but to think of how important education is for our young people. We are blessed to live in a community with some of the best schools in the nation. I might be a bit biased yet all the Blue Ribbons seem to back me up on this statement. And we have some great alternative schools as well! Thank you, teachers, administrators, and support staff for caring for our young people! We pray that this year will be the best yet, that you will have all the appropriate resources you need, and that you will have a renewed passion and energy for this upcoming year.

For all of us that are out of school I have a two part challenge. First, I want to challenge you to always be a learner. It is far too easy to think that we are done with that phase of our lives. Now we have expectations to produce at the workplace. Whatever the product is in our industry, there is pressure to perform. There’s nothing wrong with that. We should strive to be productive in the literal sense of the word. Write articles, sell houses, build systems, serve a meal. Put in an honest day’s work in whatever you do. And yet in that, always be a learner.

I am constantly striving to grow and learn. I’ve taken on countless projects that I didn’t know how to do at the time knowing that I could learn how to do it. I’m not advocating for being deceptive or for taking on too much. Instead I’m saying that we should be open to stretching ourselves by learning new skills, by applying what we already know in new ways, and by acquiring new tools to do new jobs. Don’t stop learning.

Second, I want to challenge you to apply the learned knowledge and skills in real life.

I’m really looking forward to getting back to watching Sunday afternoon football. It doesn’t matter who is playing – I just enjoy watching a good game. And I can definitely be a bit of an armchair quarterback. “Why did you throw that?! How come you didn’t run the ball?! Didn’t you see the open man?! What even was that?!” To be clear, I’m not a football player, unless you count the rare backyard game. Here’s my point. I can sound like an expert and even tell people what they ought to do, but too often I’m unwilling to do it myself. Can anyone else relate to that? I think all of us do this to some extent. Leo Tolstoy, author of War & Peace, said, “Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.” We need to actually do the things we know to do.

The Apostle Paul was a role model in this regard. First, he credited the Lord for everything he learned and practiced. Second, he modeled the behavior that he taught others to do. And he was bold enough to say not only, “do what I say,” but also, “do what I do.” He said, “Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9 NLT) Strive to be a “do what I do” sort of person.

And I have one more challenge for those that know the Lord. I encourage you to keep fixing your eyes on Christ and to stay in the Word. Paul offered an instruction and a promise in this verse: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:7 NLT)

Be a student for life and let your life be a blessing to everyone you meet.

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This will appear in The Sheridan Press on August 30, 2024.