LEARNING SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY?

“Giving all diligence, ADD to our faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love”
(2 Peter 1:5-7).

 

I have always loved the lines from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, “A Psalm of Life.”

“But to act that each tomorrow

Find us further than today.”

I love to learn something new every day, don’t you? Recently I learned the difference between a Shepherd’s Pie and a Cottage Pie. How come it has taken me so long to know the difference?

A Shepherd’s Pie is made with ground lamb whereas a Cottage Pie is made with ground beef. I guess the reason I didn’t know is that growing up in New Zealand we always cooked our Shepherd’s Pie with ground lamb as lamb was the meat we lived on in New Zealand.

I also learned recently that The American Life League estimates that “Using formulas based on the way the birth control pill works, pharmacy experts project that about 14 million chemical abortions occur in the United States each year.” Wow, that bit of information is just about too much to take in. More abortions through the Pill than Clinic abortions!

Another interesting fact I learned recently was the loudest sound that has ever been heard by human ears. It was when the volcano Krakatoa erupted in 1883 at 310 decibels. People in Alice springs, Australia, 2,233 miles away heard it!

Anyway, I think it is a good thing to encourage your children to learn something new every day. I think this is more important than making sure your children get through all their lessons each day. They can finish their lessons and yet often not remember anything. But if they learn one specific new thing every day, they will become very knowledgeable.

A good idea is to check how everyone is learning in the family at your evening family meal table. Here’s a good question for your children: “Children, what is something new you learned today?” Start with the first child and go around each one to ask them one new thing they learned. You and your husband must participate too. Your children love to hear something new that you have learned too.

This is a good way to check if your homeschooling is effective. If there is silence and they can’t remember anything, maybe you could try teaching them differently!

This is true education. Learning something new every day. It inspires excitement for learning. When you give your children this challenge, they’ll start looking for things to really remember. And you will too.

And even more than learning something new every day is to have the vision to grow a little more in Christ every day. We should never stay the same, but each new day seek to be conformed to the image of God’s dear Son. 1 Timothy 4:15 tells us that we are to immerse ourselves in the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures “so that all may see your progress.”

Other people should see that we are changing day by day. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lod, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

We’ve got to keep growing in the Lord each new day. Our Christian life is not a stay-at-the-same-place walk, but a MORE AND MORE walk.

Proverbs 4:18: “But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth MORE AND MORE unto the perfect day.”

Be excited to learn something new today.

Blessings from Nancy Campbell
www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, I ask that You help me to continually grow in my walk with You. I don’t want to stay the same. I want to learn more of You as I read Your precious Word each day. I long for new understanding and insight. I want to grow stronger and stronger in my faith and my trust in You. Please help me to inspire my children to grow daily in the Lord also. I don’t want them to stay babies. I want them to mature and grow strong in the Lord. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus!

P.S. More Scriptures to check out: Psalm 92:12-14; Proverbs 4:18; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 4:11-16; Philippians 3:12-14; Colossians 2:6, 7; 1 Timothy 4:11-15; Hebrews 5:12-14; 6:1; 12:1, 2; 1 Peter 2:2, 3; 2 Peter 1:5-8; and 3:18.