Life Long Learning
By Annmarie Miles
(From the July - September 2021 issue of VOX)
I am now in the last year of my 40s. I feel I should be doing something, like extreme ironing or learning the Tarantella. When I asked for suggestions about how I should mark this new decade, one reply said I should make a list of 50 new things to do before I hit the big 5-0. I’m not sure I’ve enough time. I should have started in my mid 30s to give me a good run at it.
Actually, I do have a bucket list of sorts, and I’ll be sharing about that next time…
For the moment, I’m just happy to be coming out of my season of emptiness. God is refilling and refreshing me anew. I am not working at the moment, due to mental health struggles I had in 2020. However, I know I’m doing better because I’m excited about learning again. As I write I’m just starting a course.
“I am a pupil at heart.”
I was sorting some old paperwork and came across a folder of job application stuff. In it were all sorts of certificates of courses I’ve done over the years. In pondering this changing season, I have realised one thing. I am a pupil at heart. Apart from a degree and post graduate Diploma in Theology, I’ve done courses on touch typing, public speaking, call handling skills, customer care, team leadership, interview training, basic sign language, food hygiene, safeguarding, leading worship, Myers Briggs, Birkman, creative writing, an NVQ (the title of which I can’t remember), oh and *coughs* memory skills.
And now after just finishing a Social Media Bootcamp, I’ve started a more in depth course on the six main social media platforms, which includes coaching from industry experts, strategy development and life coaching for building confidence.
I keep ending up back in school. Which seems weird, ‘cos when I was there, I couldn’t wait to get out.
God likes us to be teachable. He wants us to come to Him and ask if we’re not sure. He gives wisdom, ‘without finding fault,’ James chapter one tells us. When John the Baptist was in jail, he sent his followers to ask Jesus if He really was the ONE he’d been waiting for. Jesus didn’t send back a telling off. He didn’t say what I would have said. “You know well who I am!” No, Jesus sent back encouragement and urged John to lift his eyes above his own situation and look around at what was happening.
Much as I love being the perpetual student, I don’t just want more knowledge. I want God to add to my wisdom as He adds to my years. I want my Christ-likeness to increase with my age. As my year of birth gets further down the list of options when completing my Date of Birth online, so I want my dependence on my own strength to be further from my reach.
I may never dance the Tarantella. I may never iron, dangling off the side of a cliff.
But as long as God gives me life on this earth, may I always be willing to learn from Him.
Annmarie Miles is originally from Tallaght and now lives in her husband Richard’s homeland, Wales. As well as VOX articles, she writes short stories, and is working on a book about her journey with food, weight gain, weight loss and God. Visit her blog at www.auntyamo.com. On Twitter she is @amowriting.
