Do you know what my 8-year-old self or my 18-year-old self would have never believed? That sometimes, as a grown-up, I miss school.
I heard someone reciting a poem yesterday. You do not want to know the nerdy way this came about. But the poem was Thomas Hardy’s The Darkling Thrush. And it brought me to tears.
I’m not a big poetry girl. At least I didn’t think so. But I am an English major and I spent a lot of time reading and analyzing poetry back in the day. And sometimes, like yesterday, I miss the joy of experiencing beautiful thoughts set to beautiful words and I miss the joy of working through how those words impact me.
My daughter Emily was telling me last week about how she made herself go through the work of converting recipe measurements-–doing actual fractions-math with a pencil and paper–-something completely unnecessary in the age of ChatGPT. Why? To keep her brain sharp. To prove she still can. In short, because it’s good for you.
I believe our brains like to be challenged. But once we’re out of school, there’s so much knowledge that slips away, so much brain function that simply atrophies. Unless our jobs require us to, we can get along without ever doing algebra again, or learning history again, or reading poetry again. But is that the best way to live?
The scripture that best resonates with many a senior struggling through finals week is Ecclesiastes 12:12: “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.”
But another useful verse to keep in mind if you find your grown-up mind content to keep book-learning in the distant past is this: “Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” (Proverbs 9:9).
So whether you decide to crack open a volume of poetry (or not, LOL), or you just simply have to help your kids with their homework tonight, remember there’s still joy in learning and there’s always benefit in keeping your mind active!
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” –Jesus. (Matthew 22:37.