Sometimes we get caught in an awful rut when we think about learning.

Of all of my friends, Tilly really stands out for her fantastic capacity for learning.  While the rest of us learn fairly incrementally, her learning is almost exponential.  Tilly learns new motions, understands new words and can complete new tasks every day.  And all of this without ever reading a book, sitting in a classroom, doing a search on google or engaging in dialogue with a professor.

Of course, the key is that she’s 9 months old and at that age a child’s mind is developing in fairly dramatic ways.  The important thing is that she’s learning, and all without the ability to engage in most of the methods of learning that our minds might jump to.

The word disciple actually doesn’t mean student.  The meaning is much closer to lifetime apprentice, giving the range of learning through movement, through imitation, through life together, through questions asked and answered and possibly through some books.  In fact, limiting our understanding of our discipleship to just the books we read or speakers we listen to dramatically limits our ability to learn.  If we instead think of our learning as disciples as a following after Jesus, our discipler, and start to see all of our days and tasks as part of that discipleship we will learn faster than if we assume that an hour at the beginning or end of our day are the sole source of our learning.

This is not to say that great books and speakers aren’t going to be important to your learning as a disciple, but broadening your definition to include art, conversation, shared meals, and all of life will produce a much richer learning.  While picking up a book on prayer may be helpful, talking with the friend who has had a lifetime of prayer allows you to really engage with your learning.

Prayer may be our greatest source of learning.  The conversation with God that is transforming us is by it’s nature teaching us.  Learning is not a collection of information, but a source of transformation.  An apprentice does not spend years watching a master to walk away and do something else.  The watching, imitation and questions are all to become more like the master.

Tilly may not yet be able to talk, but I think she has a lot to teach us about learning.  Keep your eyes open to the world around you.  Soak up like a sponge every moment for everything you can be learning.  Be willing to try new things.  Often ‘mistakes’ and ‘failure’ teach us the most.  And let your learning change you.