Getting Students to Think-For Their Own Good!
Wednesday, April 12, 2006Posted at 12:59 PM
by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College
Part of being whole and well involves tending to our intellectual health. This entails keeping an intentional eye on what we think, read, and say. What are the things to think deeply about, and why should we think on these things? The command is to love things that are pure and lovely, and of good repute. This is what we are to think on. But, the work of thinking stops us from setting aside times for thought. The centerboard on a sailboat keeps the craft from being blown sideways in a broadside wind, allowing the sail to capture the wind and propel the boat forward. But, whenever I intend to just sit and think, my mind is quickly blown off course by the telephone, a child, the sudden realization that the mortgage payment didn’t go out on Monday, or the sight of a cobweb up in the corner; my mind rarely gets out of the shallows into the deep water of contemplative thought or prayer because I fail, time and again, to become centered.
How does the shallowness of life manifest itself? There are ten ways I can think of which daily threaten to blow my thinking off course (click on READ MORE).
READ MORE... (0) Comments •The Path
Friday, April 07, 2006Posted at 02:38 PM
by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College
Our college campus is beautiful in spring after shaking off a long winter of snowy slop and gray, glum skies. The grass greens up first, then the forsythia buds and the robins return, robust and busy. Students begin studying in the sunshine as if saying hello to a long lost companion. But, for me, the real sign of spring is a muddy path that appears between the dorms and the science building.
This shortcut is avoided in winter when it’s knee-deep in snow, when paved paths are plowed. But, come the first major melt, the tender grass is scuffed away by hundreds of footfalls. Every year I expect the college landscapers to simply give up and pave that path, since it is the proverbial shortest distance between two points. Yet, every year, they leave the path alone, a stark reminder of our penchant for making our own way in the world, oblivious to the paved paths already laid out for us.
What makes us so willing to take the shortcuts in life? To ignore God’s mapped out routes? Why does something that seems simpler appeal to us? Why does having to take the long way around vex us? Water flows downhill. Most of us choose not to stand when a seat is available. It seems that the natural order of things is to follow a path of least resistance. Paths of least resistance are easy, and we justify them in our own minds by believing them to be the most efficient and stewardly in terms of time and energy. Of course, it frustrates me when my students choose a path of least effort, adopting a “just going to get by” attitude.
Jesus promised our way would be easy- if we would just bend down and take up His yoke (Matthew 11:29-30). Yokes symbolize hard, grueling, sweaty, dusty work. Thankfully, Jesus was using the metaphor of a double yoke, saying, in essence, “Work beside me and your load will be lighter, your burdens lifted. Let me set the pace, the rhythms and the direction of your life.” The result of this obedience? A life filled with trust, learning, meaning, and rest. As your students move through their 2-3-4 years at your institution, keep encouraging them to work alongside the Lord.
Sometimes we plow ahead on our own, burying ourselves so deeply in our work, carrying the whole load alone, that we fail to see the Lord waiting to help and guide us. From a wellness perspective, these are the times we exhaust ourselves and feel prone to burnout.
Other times, we cut corners and shirk the work set before us, not bearing our fair share of the load, selfishly letting God-given opportunities slip our grasp. Either way, we deny the Lord’s leading. We make our own paths and view the ready-made Way either with contempt or apathy- if we even bother to look for it, that is.
Look down at your feet. Where have they walked today?
(0) Comments •Strict Training- A Prize for the Ages Awaits!
Monday, April 03, 2006Posted at 02:10 PM
by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College
I am reading Elisabeth Elliot’s “Discipline, The Glad Surrender” (1982) this week, and came across a most wonderful quote about athletics’ contribution to life which Elliot attributes to Pope John Paul (p. 53):
“Every type of sport carries within itself a rich patrimony of values, which must be always kept present in order to be realized. The training in reflection, the proper commitment of one’s own energies, the education of will, the control of sensitivity, the methodical preparation, perseverance, resistance, the endurance of fatigue and wounds, the domination of one’s own faculties, the sense of joy, acceptance of rules, the spirit of renunciation and solidarity, loyalty to commitment, generosity toward the winners, serenity in defeat, patience towards all - these are a complex of moral realities which demand a true aceticism and validly contribute to forming the human being and the Christian.”
I shared this with my Exercise Physiology class this morning as we began to sum up the physiological adaptations to endurance and resistance training, tying it in to 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 (Everyone who competes goes into strict training). We talked a bit about the value of training, of being trained, of assuming a lifelong commitment to growth through training, and how it enhances our performance as God’s agents of renewal in the church and society. Not surprisingly, students are not fond of the modifier, “strict” that Paul places in front of the word training!
We are not disqualified from the prize when we fix our eyes on Jesus- the author, the perfector, the starting line and the finish tape, the coach and the fan- Jesus gets us started, keeps us running, qualifies us for the prize, and meets us at the finish line with arms outstretched.
I’d write more, but it’s training time. Blessings!
(0) Comments •A New and Committed Pilgrimage
Posted at 02:02 PM
by Julie Walton, Ph.D./Calvin College
Unlike the animals, our upright walk frees our hands. Think of all the work your hands have done! Think of all the work God still has for your hands to accomplish! Think of all the times you folded those hands in prayer, or used them to wipe away tears! Now think about your feet– all the places they’ve been, how they’ve held you up all these years, all the times they’ve ached to sit, or itched to get out and walk.
What if you could combine your need for fresh air, for exercise in God’s creation with the folding of your hands for prayer and fellowship with God? What if I told you an easy secret for doing both every day? Would you believe it? Walking (exercise) and prayer are disciplines. They take discipline, and they create discipline. As godly women, we ache to be better– to be more fit, to eat healthier, to lose weight, to be more consistent in our prayer life, to read our Bibles with hunger and thirst for wisdom, and to spend time– that precious commodity– alone with God.
Ah, time! You will tell me you don’t have any time, that’s why your disciplines are so out of whack as it is. But you do have time– time to get to bed earlier, and get up earlier in the mornings. “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Mark 1:35
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