Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Teaching my tuition kid, Aiden, has been an interesting experience for me.
This student is a smart one, one who can absorb fast and pay attention to the teacher. When it comes to science, he always likes to ask interesting questions that are spontaneous and random. However, his attention span is quite short and sometimes, when I teach him some stuff nearing the end of the tuition session, he has already shut himself off and starts fiddling with the calculator, scribbling on his paper etc.
Somehow, teaching him makes me reflect about how we relate to God.
In order to teach someone, I have to be one step ahead of him. I have to comprehend the question beforehand and have an idea on how to solve it before guiding him in approaching the question in a particular manner. If I am on the same level as he is, I would not be able to teach him nor guide him through because I am as blur as he is. God is always one step ahead of us. In fact, the bible says God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, God's ways are higher than our ways. We will never be able to surpass God in his understanding of the entire situation we are in. Aiden tries to keep up with me by asking questions and paying attention to what I told him. WE try to keep up with God by engaging in a time of prayer and listening to what God wants to tell us. The way to really approach any situation in our lives is not to consider our own opinion only. Consider God's thoughts in every situation. What does he think of it? Have you even consulted him??
Whenever the time of my tuition session is about to end, Aiden would feel restless and starts to shut off. His attention would be distracted by other things, like how the ink of my pen would smudge on his rough paper, how the birds outside are flying, how his calculator works etc. Overtime, I have learned to repeat to him and go at a slower pace whenever he is restless just so that he can understand. However, sometimes, he would just miss out some of the more important points which I explained to him patiently again and again. That's because his mind is already somewhere else. Many a times, when we start praying, we are excited. We are particularly sensitive. We pay attention, focus and meditate on the word of God with all our minds. But after some time, we become tired. We lose our attention span and gets distracted in other things, like why that particular friend has not replied our sms, how are we going to do our assignments/projects, what should we do tomorrow? All these is done while praying! It can be achieved mind you, but there is no power in our prayer. We fail to tarry in the presence of God. We are just verbally exercising our lips but our minds have gone elsewhere.
Tarrying in the presence comes with time. Last time, I could not even sustain one hour in a service. I would be thinking of other things. But as I begin to immerse more in prayer, I realise it becomes easier and I am able to focus longer.
Put God in every situation and consider His view in them as we navigate the course of life~.