Here's a new perspective on a familiar NT story about Peter and letting down his net:
We normally start the story with Christ telling Peter to let down his net. But woah...let's skip the general trend of jumping right into the meat of things and start with finding the beautiful context that adds such meaning to this invitation.
Luke chapter 5, verse 1: Christ stood by the lake, where people stood to hear Gods word. Christ had just finished preaching in the synagogue with great authority and power, and had just cast out an unclean spirit in someone--people marveled. And now they were waiting to hear him teach them more.
Christ saw people at the shore already cleaning up their nets and putting them away. (I didn't know that, I thought they were still out in the boats.).
So what does Christ do? (No, not ask them to put out their nets...yet.) He goes out in the boat with them and discourses. He teaches them! Then after he is done teaching he invites Peter to put his net out.
Peter then uses his logic to explain that they've already tried this. The responds "nevertheless, at thy word, I will put down my net." Peter defied his logic but placing faith in Christs teaching and word he just heard. He applies the spiritual truth and knowledge he heard and felt, acknowledging it as more powerful and lasting than his previous logical results from earlier.
Wow! What I gleaned from this, from a teacher's perspective...
1. EXPERIENCE: Sometime we have a tendency to rush into learning and teaching, forgetting that our children need context. They often need experiences in which to place their learning. Peter had his fishing experience (which sometimes means our students need to learn to fail first, before they can have success or desire to reach for something more). Are we willing to allow experience or failure? Christ knew he was a good and powerful teacher, but he also was aware that his role wasn't to teach exact details 24/7 for every subject and situation. His role was to guide and tailor experiences according to situation, and point out truths. This required patience and timing things well.
2. FOCUSED TEACHING MOMENT: After the experience Christ allowed for a focused, distraction-free teaching moment--in a boat. I mean, talk about a focused moment. There was no escaping that boat, so they had to focus on what Jesus was teaching. Do we take time after we give our kids experiences to reflect and delve deeper--do we find time for a "boat discourse" when it can make an event more meaningful and we can highlight truths and eternal principles we observed?
3: APPLICATION: after teaching, that is when Christ invited Peter to apply what he learned: an opportunity to defy his mortal logic (and past experience) and instead rely on The power of Christ's truth and teachings (and practice obedience by placing faith in His commands). Christ gave Peter a chance to learn more deeply from that experience and his teachings by encouraging Peter to step into the unknown and exercise his newly gained learning (thus creating a new experience--bringing him full-circle in his learning). Now Peter would be empowered to know Christs teachings even more profoundly. (Not to mention that Christ repeated this experience yet again, once he was resurrected and came back, creating an even more powerful experience for Peter to remember and act on his faith in the Savior.)
So...
Do we picture our learning in a cyclical pattern that goes deeper and deeper into simple eternal principles as we gain more experience and context?
Do we see those eternal principles and Can we point them out to our children?
Do we trust promptings and intuition over logic and facts?
How do we turn our children's attention to things of the spirit and their learning over to the Lord and invite them to see eternal truths instead of just random pieces of world knowledge and facts?
Do we take time to point things back to Christ and his eternal principles? ("All things testify of Christ")
Do we allow for a beginning, middle and end to the experiences we give our children, realizing that the end can be a new beginning on a deeper level?
These are important questions. And answers will come as you seek to have experiences, make time for focused teaching moments and act on promptings to tailor invitations for growth to your children. Then mentor them through those logic-defying moments and help them understand this is what the atonement and relying on Christ truly is about. This type of learning will become a strong foundation of learning and keep children focused on the real source of truth. And this will give them confidence to approach all other types of learning, knowing that they can't fail if they trust their promotings and place faith in the power of the Saviors eternal truths.
