Saturday, February 6, 2016

The test...

You know that subject in school you struggled with - no, not the one you failed and had to take over. The one you passed - barely. You breathed a sigh of relief and thought, "Thank goodness THAT is over! Now I can move on!" 

The problem is, in school, every lesson builds upon the one before. In simple terms, that "test" you barely passed will show up again, only harder with more layers added to it. And to make matters worse, the "new" problem you are dealing with cannot be solved unless you are able to understand the previous one. And by understand, I DON'T mean passed by the seat of your pants and a couple of lucky guesses!

Take for example subtracting fractions. If you thought that was tough and barely "got" it, just wait till the fractions start having a different denominator...or when they throw in mixed numbers, or when you have to start BORROWING! Oh the horror of it all!!!! Every step depends on you being able to do the first step.

I'm discovering that life works a lot like school. Every struggle, every lesson is not an end, but merely a checkpoint on the path. Little lessons we learned may not seem important, but they are building blocks to greater things.

Right now, I seem to be working on passing a test. It's probably one I should have mastered years ago, but the fact remains I have barely squeaked by and once again find myself staring at the "problem"...only this time it is a small part of an even greater "problem" that I need to understand. Maybe calling it a problem is too much, but it definitely is a check point I need to pass before moving forward. This time, I'd like to finally "get" it so that when I encounter it again it won't be so hard. I need to not only "pass" this test, I need to master it. I need to really understand.

I wonder if others are like me and find that the tests keep getting harder...guess that means we're making progress...at least a little bit. Maybe later I'll share the "topic" of my test....after I at least come close to passing.

Thank heavens we don't have to do this alone.

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

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