Friday, November 6, 2009

Making lemonade!!!

As I was teaching Math this week- (actually reviewing some basic principles in preparation for standardized testing for Luke)   this song came to mind~
It really has nothing to do with math but it does have to do with HOW we "do" math.

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.




When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn 'twill be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.




'Tis the gift to be loved and that love to return,
'Tis the gift to be taught and a richer gift to learn,
And when we expect of others what we try to live each day,
Then we'll all live together and we'll all learn to say,




When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn 'twill be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.






'Tis the gift to have friends and a true friend to be,
'Tis the gift to think of others not to only think of "me",
And when we hear what others really think and really feel,
Then we'll all live together with a love that is real.




When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn 'twill be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come round right.


******shaker song - simple gifts - elder joseph brackett - 1848


You see, we were reviewing the rules for all operations in general and then working a problem or two for application. Simple routine for me- but Luke? No.
While I'm quickly reciting the rule, he's thinking,"But WHY does it come out that way?"

When he asked me- I was just baffled- "Luke it's just the RULE!!! Just do it this way and it works- every time"

Not enough for him- he has to know WHY!!!!!

UGGGGH! I dont even CARE why - and I surely can't explain it!!!

I'm not sure one way of looking at it is better than the other ,but I do know this- sometimes "over-thinking" is not good for the soul- not mine anyway.


I   know that God created many kinds of people with very different personalities and I am of the simpler sort-and I fully believe it IS a gift!!!

In the past I loathed the fact that I didn't think "deeply spiritual" about everything- in fact the harder I tried to, the more miserable I became.(then I learned to make lemonade!!)  :)

Once I embraced the fact that I am what God created me to be , and I need to be the VERY BEST ME I can be- I was a much happier person. I've been liberated from the "pseudo-spiritual deep-thinking wanna be" I so wished to be and have settled upon the plain old simple, happy ME that I am.

Somehow, that seems to be a comfort,( if not an amusement), to my deep thinking friends. I am surrounded by wonderfully deep, thoughtful,spiritual people- and apparently God decided that it should be just so- for both of us!

I still admire those deep thinkers- but I know that they feel ,see and think things that are heavy and difficult because they think so deeply- and I find myself thankful that I don't bear some of those burdens. I hope to lighten their load when I can, but more than  anything I hope to be exactly what God desires me to be and nothing less.

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me." ~Erma Bombeck

2 comments:

Artful Gathering said...

Lovely Post Autumn,
God made us all different so we could all teach each other things. If we were all alike this world would be a mess and pretty boring.
Thanks for the lovely words...

Unknown said...

I am just like your son! I need to know why!! Mostly this applies to learning things. It makes sense to me if I can apply it to something or a reason for doing it. Frustrating at times when there is no answer. For life though, I trust in the Lord and do not need all of the answers right now (I'll probably be full of questions for him when I get to heaven though:)