One of the fun things I like to do with my grandkids is to take them out driving.   By driving, I mean, I let them think they’re steering the car while I have my feet on the pedals.

I’m of the mind that you’re never too young to learn how to drive.

And our grandson, Owen, has become totally obsessed. 

 He’s 2 1/2.

Owen is an adventurous, confident and stubborn child (sounds like someone I know.) And he brings all his energy & self-determination to all of the driving experiences we’ve had.

The other day, as I saw we were about to hit a parked car, I put my hands back on the wheel Owen yelled, and I quote,

“G-daddy, don’t do that! Me know what I’m doing.  Move hands!”  

 Now here is a 2 1/2yr child telling me, the car owner, someone who has a bonafide certificate from the Richard Petty Speedway Driving School and a multi-platinum black belt in defensive driving –this kid is telling ME to stand down– he knows what he is doing. 

 It’s crazy how totally deluded he is about this.

 But, I’ve done this plenty of times.

Today is Mastering Mondays where we tackle an issue that could make a substantial difference in the way you lead and love others.

It seems we’re taught the way our lives should play out is to start as a student in something until eventually we gain enough knowledge and experience to become the teacher (parent, leader, etc.)

But, is this really how it’s supposed to go?

I’ve loved being a student. And these days Caron and I have become avid students concerning the engines that run our lives.  We can’t get enough of this stuff.

I’ve also loved being a teacher… being able to impart to others the good things I’ve learned.  I’ve loved teaching and discipling people…. one-on-one… in small groups… and in large venues. This past week I taught a group in our home.

And this coming weekend I’ll be teaching a larger group at a church service in our area.

It’s what I do. I love it.

But, I’m coming to see that as good as all this has been, sometimes I have over- identified myself as “the teacher.”  And when I do that I feel like one who has  “graduated” from “learner of many things”  to “master of all.” 

In a recent blog, “5 Ways Failure Makes You A Better Leader” I talked about how Jesus invited us to follow him as his disciples.  The greek word for “disciple” is “mathetes” which means LEARNER.  A learner is someone who is walking the proverbial path of 3 steps forward, 2 steps backward… and, yet,there is still forward motion, towards something and Someone profoundly grand.

Jesus’s invitation to us is to constantly be learning from Him like

someone surrendered to the art of living, loving, and leading under THE rabbi.

At Jesus’ first public ministry appearance, found in Mark 1, He said: “The time has come.  The Kingdom of God is here.”  

The greek word for “time” used here is “kairos.”  A part of its meaning refers to: something or someone, that was unplanned, a situation or event we can perceive as either positive or negative…. that presents itself to us…sometimes it comes in disguise… but actually it is some part of the life we really want and that God has ultimately designed for us.

The kingdom of God is available to us right there in THAT “kairos” moment.

But, here is the problem.  

Even though Jesus came announcing that the life we are designed for is available every moment, we can miss it because we think we already know what we need to know… like, my grandson, Owen, we totally know what we are doing.

And we take the adult/teacher stance and miss the wonder of new thoughts and growth.

Jesus says one of the keys to accessing the best of life here, is to be child-like.  (Not childish).

In Matthew 11 Jesus says, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”

Students (Children) are: 

* Curious

* Questioning

* Fascinated

* Open

* Growing

* Positive

Think- “Curious George.”

Teachers are: 

* Convinced

* Often Bored

* Closed

* Plateaued

* Often Negative

Leader’s are typically seen as THE teachers, holding the most clout in a room. There is status in being a leader/teacher. We don’t like lowering our status, do we?

But the best leaders are rabid learners.

When our hearts and minds are open, we can drop into deeper levels of living.

When we are so invested in the “I Know” mind, we get stuck, stagnant and transformation stops.

Sometimes, we get to the point we’ve developed a POSITION on most everything and then we spend the rest of our lives defending our positions. That defensiveness is our egoic, false identity:  “I know”.  “I’m the one that is right.”  And when we argue with or resist a moment… a circumstance… in a conversation, somehow we feel our identity being threatened.

Here are some ways I try to keep myself in student mode: 

1.  When reading the Bible, I hit the reset button and act like I’m hearing or reading the passage for the 1st time.  Instead of ‘knowing’ that I already know everything there is to know about that section, I try to read with a child- like or “beginners mind” approaching it with more curiosity and wonder.  

2.  Whenever I’m outside… whether it’s early in the morning with my coffee… or sitting at a stop light… or paddling in my kayak… I’m intentional at looking at whatever’s around me, a cloud, tree, bird, and I think things like: “How in the world does that even work?”  Noticing, questioning things. 

3.  Whenever I’m exposed to ideas or beliefs different from mine I pray: “Let your kingdom come (Big ideas, big beliefs, big framework, big love) and let my kingdom go (small ideas, small beliefs, small framework)  I’m asking : How can I postion my soul, my heart to be more open to what is most TRUE about myself, others, and God, through this new idea?

4.  Whenever I’m experiencing a circumstance or relationship I’m uncomfortable in: If I really believe Romans 8 that says: “I KNOW that ALL things work together for good…” then I remind myself that ALL that happens to me is not against me (even though it can feel that way) but it is FOR me.  It is for my benefit.

Instead of shutting down, I seek to allow it to open me up to whatever else there is for me

to learn about others and myself.

Each morning, I look at a picture in my office that shows two rabbis.  I’ve often knelt in front of the picture and said: “As I walk with you this day, Lord,  be my teacher. I don’t know as much as I think I do.  Teach me to think like you think; feel what you feel; and respond the way you do.”

Even as we lead others, we are first and foremost called to be learners. That’s where all the life-juice is. And I want all of that I can get. 

What’s your daily default switch:  Acting like a learner or acting like a teacher?