Desert Island Friends
By Christy Rood | April 20, 2008
My husband and I like to take a book with us on some of our dinner dates. No, it’s not the Bible – we’re not so spiritual as to have couples’ devotions over a steak dinner at The Keg. We bring a conversation starter book with bunches of questions. Sometimes we use it, and sometimes we don’t, but it helps steer the conversation away from the day to day church or kids stuff. Anyway, the very first question in the book is, “If you were to be stranded on an island for the rest of your life, who is the one person [we eliminated each other] you’d MOST want to be stranded with and why?” (Then, of course, it goes on to ask who you’d least want to be stranded with, which was fun to discuss.) Now you’re all wondering who we came up with – wouldn’t you like to know??? I’ll spare those details, but I will say that after pondering the question, we came up with our answers, and found that the people were different, but the why was the same. If we could only choose one, we’d go with the person who would most stimulate us intellectually. We couldn’t think of a worse hell than living out the rest of our days bored to tears, so we tried to think of the people we know who have the most interesting subject matter tucked away ready to pull out for good conversation.
The fact is, we are naturally drawn to people who are self-improvers. They are well-informed about a variety of subjects and are always learning something new, either from books or classes or experiences. I went through a period of about 5 years after college when other than the Bible, I basically didn’t read anything I wasn’t forced to read. I had been through 16 years of school, and figured I needed a break. Now, thankfully I married a man who loves to read and regurgitates everything he is studying, so I learned a lot through osmosis. But, as far as learning on my own, I just didn’t discipline myself to do much of that. I’m not sure what changed in me – maybe I just got bored of myself – but there came a point when I was fed up with my lazy mind, and decided to finally do something about it. I actually made a cheesy New Years resolution one year that I would never be without a book on my bedside table that I was reading, and with very few exceptions, I have kept that resolution ever since. And now, I don’t have to discipline myself to read. If I don’t have a book going, there’s a hole in my life.
I have a great example of this in my parents. I don’t remember a time growing up when my parents didn’t each have a stack of books on either side of the bed. Weekly trips to the library were routine – Mom & Dad upstairs perusing the grown-up books, and us kids downstairs picking out books for ourselves or reading comics (has anyone else grown up on Tin Tin?). Their love of learning hasn’t slowed down a bit, and isn’t likely to anytime soon. Albert Einstein said, “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.” That’s how I want to end up – one foot in the grave and the other in the bookstore.
Is lifelong learning a biblical concept? Many a student has used Ecclesiastes 12:12 (“…much study wearies the body”) as proof that studying is pointless. And, Paul warns against too much learning without heart application in 2 Tim. 3:7 (“always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth”) and I Cor. 13. It’s true that just stuffing more knowledge into your head will not do you any good in light of eternity. Too many Christians, however, read verses such as the ones above and conclude that all learning is vain. In Proverbs, we learn that wisdom is the learning and application of truth; but how can application occur without learning? Still other Christians agree that learning scripture is crucial, but reading anything other than the Bible or Christian books is a waste of time at best, and dangerous at worst. The literal definition of wisdom in Proverbs is the skill of living. The most important knowledge we gain is from scripture, but developing the skill of living could cover a huge range of subjects. Continual learning enables missional Christians to, like Paul, “become all things to all men.” Learning a trade enables us to provide for our families. Learning new skills gives us confidence and enriches our lives. And, if nothing else, learning will give you some great topics of conversation in case you’re ever stuck on a desert island with 1 friend.
Topics: Blog | 1 Comment »
This post has been viewed 166 times.One Response to “Desert Island Friends”
Leave a Reply
« Just who was Joe? (Part 3) | Home | Fighting FOR Your Marriage, Not WITH It »
You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about who you guys picked since I read this!! hehe.