Never Stop Learning

My husband and I married just after he graduated from college—just before he started law school. While we were married, I finished my undergraduate degree. After he began working, we often harkened back to those days, lamenting that we couldn’t find a way to remain students forever while still making a living (because those mountain of student loans weren’t paying themselves off!).

Both of us are learners by nature, though, so not being official students hasn’t really stopped our progress. With the advent of the internet, the opportunity to learn new things increased. And now that we are the only two left at home, we indulge our tendency toward learning even more.

For instance, in the past few years my husband has discovered that baking relaxes him. He has learned to make things he never imagined he could do. Like pie crust. And biscuits. Custards and ice creams. Cakes and frostings. He is now constantly on a quest for new recipes and eager to learn new techniques.

We also recently signed up for a class though The Great Courses on little-known World War II heroes. It has been fascinating to go beyond the familiar, to add texture to the “big picture” events of history.

And although I’ve been taking writing classes since high school—and even more consistently since 2000—I never fail to gain a new understanding of the writing process when I dive into a class with a new-to-me teacher. My most recent class was on writing mystery without plotting. Boy, did this seat-of-the-pants writer need that!

All of this learning is great. The process, the stimulation of thought. The challenge as well as the feeling of satisfaction when a concept or task is mastered well. But the place I still most enjoy learning is in my relationship with the Lord.

My learning heart loves that reading the Bible is never the same experience twice. New emphasis, new connections, new whispers from the Holy Spirit regarding how to live my life in ways pleasing to the Lord. In those God-breathed pages, I learn the nature of God from His recorded words and actions and use them to better understand His words and actions over the course of my life. I learn about myself and why my heart sometimes doesn’t readily want to line up with His. I gain greater understanding of the depth of His forgiveness, His mercy, His love.

Such learning far surpasses earthly knowledge. It teaches me to live as if I am not of this world. And yet spiritual learning fuels my desire to continue to be a student of the life around me, before me, and behind me. Because in this way, I live in the world, as Jesus has asked me to do.

So what have you been learning lately?

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D'Ann Mateer

Inspired by novelist Eugenia Price, D’Ann’s dream of writing historical fiction with an element of faith began in middle school, though her serious drive toward publication took a bit longer. D’Ann is the author of four historical novels and one novella, as well as a contemporary short stories in a compilation volume. D’Ann and her husband of 30 years can be found in Austin, TX when they aren’t touring historic sites or visiting their grown children.

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