Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Don't Teach Me Anymore

I was listening to a song by Derek Webb and it got me thinking about all the things that the world teaches us. This is what came from it.


There is a teacher whose lessons are vast and too numerous to count. She has many names. She goes by, Culture, Society and often times Progress. She is always teaching. Even when I am unaware, she is teaching, and I have been her student long enough. No more.
I no longer want what you are teaching. I have a new Teacher who speaks truth. I don't want what you want. You want whats here and now. You want what you can touch, what you can buy, what will rust and eventually be no more. I want something different. Don't teach me anymore.
Don't teach me about Beauty because to you it is a size two and nice clothes, but Beauty is what pours out of a loving heart. Beauty is a poor, unkempt carpenter.
Don't teach me about Love, because you love so that you get something in return. You teach me that the person I am suppose to love must look like me, talk like me, and vote like me. Love does not have expectations. Love is completely one-sided, therefore not dependent on what the other person does or doesn't do, say or doesn't say. Love, loves in the face of looking like a fool. Love, loves in the face of getting spit on. Love, loves to death.
Don't teach me about Wealth, because it is not the money that you have or the "stuff" that you boast about. Wealth is having the gems of wisdom acquired over a lifetime. Wealth is having investments in people's lives.
Don't teach me about Security because no 401k or work of my own hand can protect anything. Security is only found in the One that holds the Book of Life and whose wings cover us in protection. Security is not living not to die, it is living to live with the trust that we are as safe with him in the middle of a jungle as we are in our own bed.
Don't teach me about Greatness, because Greatness is not your large bank account or your famous name. Greatness rode in on a donkey with only the clothes on his back, to serve the poorest of poor, and love in spite of persecution.
So, don't teach me anymore. I don't want what you have to offer. I have a new Teacher whose words can pierce the hardest of hearts, whose lessons can change the world, and whose very name can save us all.

3 comments:

Phillip A. said...

Awesome insight! Not living for our culture is one of the hardest things we face as Christians here in America. Maybe this recession will help humble and refocus us on the true key to a happy life.

Vanessa Meling said...

Hey Nicole! Great to catch up by reading your blog. Hope you're doing well. I can't believe that Jackson is walking...unbelievable!! Take care.

Vanessa

rick and sharyn mc said...

Brilliant, Nicole, Brilliant! You are very talented in your writing. Thank you for sharing you thoughts!
Sharyn