Sitting with the teachers...

In case you hadn't noticed, this blog is about my journey towards finding out who I am, and who I'm meant to be and the things that I am learning along the way... To help me along this journey, I've been reading through the stories of Jesus's life (aka : the Gospels) in order to try and rekindle my 'first love'.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple - Luke 2: 41-47

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

Now, I'm just going to put it out there... I'm not the most spiritual person by typical christian standards. By that, I mean that I'm not one going to be the one coughing up all the christian terminology and christian sayings and quoting Scripture left, right & center. I'm not really into that. If you are, then that's cool, but I'd rather my life be an expression of my love for Christ. So, as much as I've heard this story countless times before, something kinda stuck out to me that I haven't seen before (read bold). Like, when was the last time I sat at the feet of teachers and really absorbed what they said. I mean, I'd like to think that I'm someone who's able to be taught, but I don't think I've ever just sat with people wiser then me and learned from them. And even if I had, I doubt I would have ever asked questions.

Yet, Jesus does it. He's thirsty to know more. He left His parents in order to be amongst the teachers. He drops everything just to learn from them... wow. I can't even imagine that. Maybe I'm just too stubborn or proud or independent, but that's a big step for me.

There are people in my life that I believe are really wise. And that I can learn alot from. I know that they're in my life for a reason and yet I ignore that part. So dumb. Because before I know it, they'll be gone. And I'll have missed out on yet another opportunity to grow.

I have this one mentor that for the majority of our relationship, I fought with tooth and nail with. We argued so much. Part of that was the nature of our relationship, part of that was me being too freaking stubborn to let people speak into my life. And now, he's not in my life as much anymore and I'm kicking myself for not learning more off him. I never just sat and listened. I always had to be right... Granted, I still learned alot of things but I know that there was so much more, if I had just been available for it. And now it's too late.

I never want to do that again... I want to take advantage of all the relationships I have. I want to learn from people who's wisdom is much greater then mine. As I'm re-discovering who I am, I learning that I can't do it on my own... as much as I want to, I can't. It's not the way it's intended to be.

Personal challenges for this week :
1 ) Sit and learn.
2 ) Listen more in services... and take notes. No doodling. No facebook. No texting. (ok, maybe just a little bit of this one.)

If I call and ask you for coffee in the near future, this is why.

Peace homies.