Learning and Sharing

I'm a little bit worried about my Gospel learning this year, especially in light of this week's Sunday School lesson: We Are Responsible for Our Own Learning. I'm worried that, given that we'll be meeting at church later and for fewer hours, I might take that as an excuse to spend less time on Gospel topics. However, that may not be as big of a concern as I fear.

When I was a teacher, I would regularly spend hours delving into gospel topics, knowing that I was going to have to lead discussions about them. Now, I don't have to lead the discussions, but I can be expected to contribute to them. I'll still have to study the topics on my own, but instead of thinking of questions to ask the group, I'll want to come up with insights to share with them.

For example, this week, I could share my thoughts on the importance of patience in Gospel learning. We can't expect to understand everything right away. God knows that it will take us more than a lifetime to learn everything God wants to teach us, but fortunately, we have more than a lifetime of learning ahead of us. We don't have to understand everything right now. We just have to keep seeking and stay faithful to what we've learned thus far.

As a teacher, I would need to prepare many more thoughts like this. As a passive listener, I wouldn't have to prepare anything at all. But as an active participant in the discussion, I will have to read the material ahead of time and be prepared to share my thoughts. As far as I can tell, that's what it's going to take. I'm not going to church to teach anymore, and I'm not going just to learn, either. The learning is supposed to have already happened. Now, we're going to church to share what we've learned with each other, and that might just be enough to motivate me to actually study the lessons. I know that I'll be expected to share what I've learned.