I teach at two local community colleges and work full-time in a public high school. I see all kinds of young people with all kinds of learning styles. Some students are good at memorizing facts. Some are very creative. Still others are better at comprehension and critical thinking.
Most students can learn to multiply because multiplication is a simple, linear, one-dimensional operation. All you need to learn multiplication is to learn your multiplication table.
Calculus, on the other hand, is more complicated than multiplication. Calculus requires the ability to think beyond linear, one-dimensional problems. Memorizing facts like the multiplication table is an important part of getting a well-rounded education, but critical thinking and learning to apply our minds are more important. In addition to learning facts, we must learn how to think. Critical thinking is important because it helps us understand the facts we learn and helps us to be able to apply these lessons to our daily lives.
Life is more like calculus. Life is complex and requires thought and comprehension. We must be able to “visualize” the problems of life in two or three dimensions. Life is like calculus because life is more than one-dimensional. You and I are more than one-dimensional. You and I are multi-faceted. We are more than what we appear on the surface. We are complex and often complicated.
Since our lives are often complicated, we need to take time to really think about our lives. We need to take time to reflect and ask questions like: “What is my purpose in life?” “Why do I do the things that I do?” “Am I really satisfied with my life?” Unless we take time to think about these questions, we will only live a one-dimensional life.
It’s time that we graduated out of elementary class and move up into the advanced class of living a purpose-driven life. Take time to do some spiritual thinking. Open your mind and allow God to speak to you a deeper level. Let God’s heart speak to your heart. The Bible says:
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
May God help you to contemplate life on a deeper level.
Leave a Reply