Liz's Lesson Learned: The Essence of Me, Part III: Learning and Teaching

The essence of me, you asked. I already delved into me, the dreamer, and me, the minister. To round out this consideration of my essence, I thought I would look at one more essential part of me: learning and teaching.  For me, the two must go together.

Most of my life, I have learned something and then turned around and taught what I learned to someone else.  Teaching and learning are just so rewarding!! However, nothing is funnier to me than trying to teach myself something by drawing only upon my own wits to gain this knowledge.  But before I get to that “funnier” example, I want to share some things I have learned and then had an opportunity to teach others.

As a five or six-year-old child, my beginning tap dance class learned a dance to the song “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.”  Many years later, when I became a young adult, I created a dance school called Klassy Kids. I taught the young tappers a dance based on my memory of the one I learned as a child.

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I began learning French when I was in the 7^th grade.  And today, I still take French classes here and there.  Knowing my love for the French language and my long-held desire to go to Paris, my son surprised me and took me there for my 60^th birthday. I was pleased to discover that the French people were willing to speak slowly so I could understand them.  I loved Paris.  I have eight grandchildren, and I decided to pass some of the French I have learned on to them.  I created an elementary French class that met once a week.  I began their discovery of the French language the same way I learned – by teaching them the numbers, ABCs, and colors.  The things I learned as a child, I began to teach my grandchildren.

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During my theological studies, my beliefs and tenets were regularly challenged and stretched.  I learned that ministers needed to be willing and able to meet congregants where they were and then always create room for them to learn and to grow.  Walking and growing in faith are requisites of the learning and teaching process.  When I was a child, my elders taught me that responses to life’s truths were either yes or no.  Older Christians allowed no in-between or grey areas, and there was no room for doubt.  I still remember that Bible study question: “Are you sure you will go to heaven when you die?” “Yes,” many in the class answered.  “How do you know?” I asked.  “You just know by the life you live,” and “Based on Jesus’ promise that those who are saved would go to heaven.”  Their responses caused me to ask another question. “What about Jesus saying that everyone who believes is not going?”  The response was “You should just know.”  I would struggle with that one for years!  I did come to believe that if I do what the Lord says, I will have a place in heaven.  So, I’m going to continue to live as though my place with Jesus is secured.  But more importantly, I can’t help but serve Him because it just makes me feel so good.  And this is what I teach anyone who will listen to my voice.  But my childhood questions have led me to allow my grandchildren to explore their faith by asking as many questions as they like.

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I was taught to pray by learning biblical prayers.  One prayer was the “Lord’s Prayer” found in Matthew 6:9-13.  However, as a child, I did not know where to find it in the Bible.  We prayed each Sunday during the worship service.  It was not long before I knew it by heart.  I also learned to pray by saying grace before meals.  My children’s preschool teachers began teaching them The Lord’s Prayer, and I reinforced it at home by incorporating it into our daily prayers.  Just as I prayed the Lord’s Prayer at church, they did likewise.  Now, so do my grandchildren.  Learning to pray involves having opportunities to practice.  It is always an exciting day when my students move from shying away from praying aloud and believing that I would always pray move to writing their prayers, to saying tentative prayers, to prayer from a heart that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.  Self-growth in faith is greatly enhanced when one learns to depend on Jesus to pray.

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As an adult Sunday School teacher, I was asked, “Do we meet our loved ones in heaven?” Remembering back to that difficult question about whether I’m going to heaven, I tried to teach in a way that promotes faithful learning.  I responded, “Since I do not know anyone who has been to heaven, I cannot say for certain who will be there.  But I do know that Jesus loves us and knows our hearts.  I do not think He would have a problem with you hoping to see your loved ones.  So, hang onto your belief and note that perhaps when we move on to our heavenly home, it may not matter.  Until that blessed day, there is nothing wrong with keeping that hope alive.

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For most of my work career, I have used one form of Microsoft Software.  I even studied and became certified in the Microsoft Suite.  My supervisors noticed that I was able to teach and troubleshoot, and decided it would be helpful if I developed a training manual that included best practices, tips, and tricks.  I used that manual as a resource when I began teaching others.

I have had so many opportunities to learn and then pass it on.

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Okay, enough of that.  Back to the humor, I find in teaching myself something with no outside help.  I had to return to all the methods I had previously used to learn something new.  This was the situation:

I know my ABCs; I learned them a long time ago.  So, what you might say, because if you are reading this, you learned your ABCs too.  I was invited to join the Ensemble of the play Joseph and His Multicolored Dreamcoat.  My teaching and learning skills would be tested!  One of our warm-up exercises included singing the ABCs to a different tune and at a progressively faster speed.  If I sang them to the tune I knew, I could speed up as fast as the music director liked.  However, I tried to sing this tune, and I just could not do it.  Each time I tried,  I ended up falling into uncontrollable fits of laughter. A couple of weeks into rehearsal, I put things together.  We did that comical warmup so fast because Joseph's Technicolor Dreamcoat had a song full of colors... Jeepers!

This is not something that someone could teach me to do.  So, I began and repeated and began and repeated – red and yellow and orange and brown. This routine worked for the first set of colors. Two more rehearsals complete, I was feeling good and singing that first line.  Then I heard a cast member say:  Red and yellow and green and brown. Man!! I had just gotten that line down and was moving on to line 2. What a time to discover my mistake. Look again closely.  I was orange instead of green.  Back to the drawing board!

It seemed like our director must have been talking to me, because several weeks later, she announced, “You all need to learn the colors so that when the lights change colors, your lips will match.”

Part of the problem was that I kept cracking myself up trying to recite those colors when we were on stage.  It’s funny that I knew my colors, but asking me to say them quickly is something else.  I needed a routine.  So here is what ended up being my color-learning routine.

1.    Type the colors and put them in place where I can look at them often.

2.    Say each line 10 times

3.    Write the colors in a note on my cell phone. That list goes where I go.

4.    Clap my hands and say the color to the beat

5.    Remember the first color of each line

6.    Remember that the colors on the line, when combined, could very possibly create the last color in the line.  Okay, a little deep, but it helps.

7.    Say the colors. If you make a mistake, go back to the beginning. Man, ten times and still can't get through it.

8.    Dance a jig and say those colors.

9.    Say the colors to a different song like Melee Kelikimaka as sung by Bing Crosby

10.  Can't sleep at night, run those colors through your mind

11. Pray and pray some more

Then there's the long-awaited miracle that brings a smile to my lips. I saw it in my mind. OH YEAH... OH YEAH. I see those colors in my mind!!

This is how we do it!!

Red and yellow and green and brown

Scarlet and black and ochre and peach

Ruby and olive and violet and fawn

Lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve

Cream and crimson and silver and rose

Azure and lemon and russet and grey

Purple and white and pink and orange and blue

I got it and not a moment too soon -- only two weeks before opening night.

I am sure there is more to the essence of me, but learning and teaching are my essence right along with dreaming and ministering.