Genius Uncovered

Daily Gratitude Year 6- Day 127: Today, I am grateful for genius uncovered by great teachers. 

Not everyone is gifted at standardized tests. There are so many different kinds of intelligence. 

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." -Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is credited most often with this quote. I think it is because he understood that his "genius" looked like "crazy" to many people. He looked at physics with new eyes and disrupted the popular view. None of us like it when our view of the world is disrupted and we have to adjust our thinking. It means we were... wrong! Ouch.  No one likes to be wrong and change is rarely fun. 

Great teachers have the ability to change the world. I hate that we live in a world that is so obsessed with standardized testing that misses other kinds of brilliance. It puts pressure on teachers and students. One of the things that has come to the Jr. High is passion projects that combine a students passion with language arts. It is a wonderful precursor to the things the will do in high school and college. It makes students aware of the world beyond the school walls and how they can influence and impact it. 

We have a "free library"... books to leave and share ... in the cutest little box, right here in our little town because a junior high student thought it was a good idea. Wow! Right? An good idea with some passion behind it is how most great inventions happen. 

Many of the greatest inventors scientists struggled in other areas. They were socially awkward or challenged by language arts. Some had little formal education.A balanced education is a good thing because it creates well rounded people, but I wonder how many hours we spend trying to teach a fish to climb and a bat to swim. They were not designed for it. 

Jesus was often called "Rabbi", with respect to his knowledge of the scriptures, Jewish law and insight. People followed him to hear him speak. He would speak the scriptures and the same words they had known all of their lives, suddenly made sense. A great teacher can do that. He summed up all of the laws they struggled to keep in two commands. I never get tired of this passage, because it challenges me every day:

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 37-40

If you rip apart the ten commandments given to Moses, they are easily divided into two parts. The first four are God's expectations as to how we should treat him. The last six are instructions for living with each other. If we follow them, the others fall into place. It's all there. Jesus didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." -Matthew 5:17 

He did clearly come to make a new covenant, which was big and hard for many to accept. One that made grace, forgiveness and redemption available to all who would recognized and receive him as Lord of their lives. I've spent the first four months of the year doing a Bible study in the gospels. His teaching style was genius and his truth was louder than all the chaos of his day. His truth still is.  

My favorite part of Jesus teaching style was his longing to walk with his disciples. They had to "come" and "follow". They had to commit for the long haul. They had to have the passion to persist when things got tough. They had grown up with tons of religion, but Jesus taught that it was about a relationship. They could know the Father, just as they knew the Son. And then, he sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and guide. 

What they could not understand, they had to trust. Each disciple had a purpose and a place at the table. Even Judas. They were chosen for their passion and their hearts. They walked and talked with Jesus for such a brief time, but as with the greatest of teachers... a little time with them changes everything. For a band or ragamuffin, oddly united disciples... it changed everything... for them and us. 

Truth is always revealed in time. It lives beyond the moment. Discovering who Jesus is brings conviction, but when we believe and receive there is profound joy. The God of the Universe stepped into human skin to be with us, to teach us, to die for us, to conquer death for us and live again. He is death defying so we can be brave. He did this, all the while loving and seeing that each life has a purpose and a value. In Him, he wants us to learn, grow and go. 

He never asks a fish to climb a tree, but walking on water is not out of the question. He equips those he calls and guides each step. He never leaves us alone.

Today, I am grateful for genius uncovered by great teachers... and the greatest teacher of all.