The Joy of Learning at Any Age: 5 Autumn Realizations

Inside: What it takes to keep learning—no matter how old you are. Plus … one way to do hard things, why it helps to run into the wind, and how to respond to unanswered prayers.

Several weeks ago, I watched as my younger sister taught my 92-year-old aunt how to use the video feature of Facebook Messenger. Aunt Renate wanted to be able to video chat with her daughter in Mississippi; now she can.

Goes to show, you’re never too old to learn something new.

Of course, it takes a certain attitude—a willingness to risk failure, to let go of established habits and past mistakes, to try to understand concepts that often seem second nature to others.

What Do We have to Lose?

I haven’t always approached life in this way. But it’s gotten easier in recent years—or maybe “less hard” is more accurate. When facing a new challenge now, I’m more likely to ask myself, What am I afraid of here? What’s it going to hurt to try, really?

If we mess up, we can start again. Or at least chalk it up to experience and try something else. In retrospect, we might even be surprised at how rewarding the whole process was.

An Added Benefit

By letting go of our apprehension about attempting new things, we’re also setting an example for people who may be watching us. This is one of my primary motivators, in fact. I don’t want my girls to be afraid to try new things because they learned this tendency from me.

Speaking of learning, I love it when I can look back over the past season and pick out a few realizations that have made an actual difference in my life. My prayer is that you will find these helpful too.

5 Autumn Learnings

1. Watching someone else do a hard thing can compel us to do hard things too.

For example, Randy has been doing intermittent fasting since Oct.  1. I’m not skipping breakfast with him, but his determination and commitment to this new way of eating has inspired me to move forward in some areas that I’ve avoided for years because I was simply afraid to try.

2. Running into the wind is easier than running with the wind at your back. This may sound counterintuitive—and maybe it just works for me—but it seems a certain amount of resistance is helpful when it comes to forward motion.

My daily running goal is to finish, not to run faster. But last week, with the wind blowing in my face at a gusty 15 miles per hour, I ran faster than ever. (A wind chill that made it feel like 14 degrees Fahrenheit also helped. Colder also is better, at least for me.)

3. We never really know the full story about people—the baggage they carry, the trauma they have endured or witnessed, the hurts they harbor, or how much they have survived. When we start to learn parts of their stories, we might discover we have more in common with them than we thought.

 4. Even so, it can be frustrating—not to mention discouraging and disheartening—when loved ones can’t change or won’t change or don’t see the need to change. It’s not our job to fix anyone else (especially since we might have similar blind spots ourselves). But we can take our loved ones to Jesus. We can ask Him to be real to them, to meet them in their hurts and pain, to comfort them and strengthen them.

No matter how dire the situation, He can do more in a moment than we can dream of doing in a lifetime. In us and in our loved ones.

5. Some answers to prayer are meant to share, and others are meant to ponder in our own thankful hearts. I’ve been in a pondering phase lately and see it as a precious gift. God’s faithfulness doesn’t always reveal itself how we wish it would. But when we’re able to catch a glimpse of His work in our life (or someone else’s), it’s worth savoring.

That said, if you find yourself in prayer’s waiting room today, I have some straight-forward encouragement for you: Keep praying.

Seriously. Don’t give up. Don’t lose heart. Don’t think that God doesn’t care (He does) or that nothing is happening (we just never know). As this song so beautifully puts it, “Cast your burden on the Lord and leave it there.”

I’d love to hear what you’ve learned this fall, or what you are most thankful for today. Please share in the comments, and have a wonderful week before Thanksgiving!

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee and Grace & Truth.