Life as a teacher

Life as a teacher

Mario D' Couto

It is said that experience is the best teacher. It is not enough to go through life but we must all strive to grow through life. Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, "You cannot cross  the same river twice" which is to say that every experience is a passing moment and nothing is permanent. However I would like to add to it and say, "No one can enter a different experience with the same attitude." Every event and situation is an opportunity in itself. If we approach it with an open mind, we will learn from it. If we, on the other hand, go with our own pre - conceived ideas, it will not help. One cannot fill a jar that is already full. 

Quite often we never learn from what happens to us. This happened in the lives of the Israelites as seen in Psalm 106:43, "Over and over God rescued them but they never learned until finally sin destoryed them." Mature people develop the habit of extracting lessons from everyday experiences. Here are a few questions to help you in this purpose, 

  • What has God taught me from failure?
  • What has God taught me from lack of money?
  • What has God taught me from pain, sorrow and depression?
  • What has God taught me through waiting?
  • What has God taught me through illness?
  • What has God taught me from disappointment?
  • What have I learned from my family, my Church, my relationships, my small groups and my critics?


God speaks to us through our conscience. He speaks to us through the events of daily life. However, it is only by His grace do we understand and that comes through prayer. William Johnston elaborates on the theme of the 'Dark Night' by St. John of the Cross in his book, "The Wounded Stag". Off late, I had read the book, "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and "Summoned by love" by Carlo Carretto, two wonderful spiritually enriching books. Why do I say this? Because it gives us a realistic picture of what God expects from us and how our relationship with God should be. 

I was, in particular, taken up by the aspect of pain, suffering and abandonment. I guess all of us are part and parcel of this phenomenon. We are all in the same boat. If one were to ignore it or deny it, then he or she must be fooling himself or herself. There is value in pain and suffering. In fact, some of life's greatest lesson are learned the hard way. I remember, as a boy, sometimes I would go for shopping with my parents and if I wanted something, my parents would purposely not buy that thing for me even if they had the money or could afford it. They would do it as a lesson to teach me that just because I wanted something, that does not mean that I must have it. Besides, it is quite possible that if my parents could not afford it, then what do I do? Do I start throwing tantrums and bring the roof down? I am ever grateful to my parents for teaching me this lesson for life. 

Whenever I think about this, I feel the same way about God. Rick Warren describes the phenomenon beautifully in his book, "THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE." He says that when we are 'infants', in our beginning stages of our faith, God gives us assertions and shows us that He is there for us. But then later, as we progress in our journey in our Christian faith, it happens that there are times when we feel that God is far away. God does it to test us, NOT because He does not like us! God invites us to a mature faith in Him. He invites us to place our trust in Him despite the darkness that we go through and there are enough and more examples in the Bible to prove this point. None of God's people were spared! This is a necessity. By going through this process, our relationship with God becomes solid and deep.     

Carlo Carretto explains his understanding of 'darkness' in his book, 'Summoned by Love' which is worth quoting in this regard,

"How terrible, God's silence in humankind's darkness! This is perhaps the worst suffering of all. He says nothing, not even when it is His beloved, His only Son Jesus, whose cry was, "My God My God, why have You forsaken Me?" which is the concentrated cry of all humankind. 

 It is here that we see the price exacted for the master piece being prepared for humankind by God's hope, which comes from the Lord. The Lord stays silent because that hope is growing and developing. The ability to hope is the greatest gift that God has given to humankind. 

When the human person is endowed with hope, he overcomes the obstacles in which he is ensnared. When the human person hopes, he dies already seeing his body in the resurrection light. Abraham's hope is one of the wonders of humankind and the hope of the martyrs in the radiance of the Church. When we hope, we overcome fear, we begin to understand the purpose of our ordeal, we begin to put our trust in God, we begin to believe in things which are impossible, we feels God's presence in our darkness and finally, we begin to pray."

It is through our faith and trust in Him, that we have the answer to things which have no answer and so to conclude with the words of V. Raymond Edmans, "Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the night" to worry too much is not to trust God. Faith, not feelings, pleases Him. 

   

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