This morning I remembered a lovely quote from T.H. White in The Once and Future King. We find a moment when King Arthur feels depressed. Merlin replies, “The best thing for being sad . . . is to learn something. That’s the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn.”
The brain likes to learn. When we’re curious and decide to learn something new, it does indeed feel delightful and often takes our minds off of feeling sad or discouraged. I love the particular focus created when I’m attempting to learn something new. It’s wonderful!
In my world, I need to learn things related to technology in the classroom. I need to learn about better tools for podcasting and web design. I need to learn what motivates students and how to assess for learning in new ways. I love to learn!
I love learning new things about Jesus in the Bible, too. I hope we all never lose a desire to learn something new each day. And I’m not talking about news or information about other people through social media; I’m talking about skills or knowledge for personal growth and worship. What if we all decided to try and learn something new every day?