From The Storyteller
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Hello All: Transitions can be life changing and difficult. They can also be a part of a great adventure. Enjoy. Doug
Teachers “We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover ‘it’ within themselves”, me quoting Galileo to myself as I wondered how I had allowed my days to become so full. My transition from lawyer to church pastor had been fairly smooth, yet while my days were extremely busy, I felt I was just treading water. I came to realize that, while my situation had changed, rather than adjusting myself to fit the change, I simply added familiar stuff to make “before and after” feel the same. Then I discovered Galileo’s quote. Since my desire was to be an effective pastor, his advice was to discover the “it” already within me, and then apply “it”. Sounded easy, and with some focus I was able to conclude that I basically liked people and wanted to help them. I also concluded lawyer-help and pastor-help required very different skill sets. This lead me to seek out several wise, and mostly gentle teachers, who over several years taught me a lot of things that saved me from much grief. And this brings me back to Galileo’s quote. Discovering the “it” within, does not prepare us for the tasks “it” requires. And this naturally brings me to a quote from another scientist - Isaac Newton, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. If we are to grow, teachers are a must. I smile because, while some lessons are taught by teachers who know their role is to teach us, some of our hardest lessons have been taught by folks who would never think of themselves as a teacher. Moral: Knowing why you want to do something, and how to do it, are two different things. |