All of my school-age grandchildren are being home schooled by their competent mothers. And as their grandma, I’m nervous about keeping up with them! These children are learning literature, history, and math at an astounding rate that will leave me behind in the not-too-distant future.

Take Skylar for example. At the age of 6 she can hold her own in a discussion of everything from past-participles to the Reformation. She’s studying Latin and can also recite which president did what. She’s learning about maps and can properly arrange the States of our country without any trouble.

But the other day she brought her magnet puzzle to her teacher/mommy with the USA assembled in a new way. Pointing to Florida (where she lives) she explained how she had intentionally placed it close to Michigan (where I live). “This is how I want our country to be,” she said, “so we can go right to Midgee’s house.”

That impressed me, since it means she has accurately understood that the distance in miles between us now prohibits quick get-togethers. She’s aware that traveling to Midgee’s house takes lots of time and effort, and locating closer would remedy that problem.

I like the way she thinks!

I wonder if God, as our Teacher, ever says something like that about us.

So often I feel there’s more about the Christian life that I don’t know than that I do. God has given us the Bible, our “home school textbook,” which could carry the subtitle, “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Christian Life.” Jesus was our real-life example of how to live it out, but even so, I have more questions than answers.

But what if God is watching us as we try to put the pieces of scriptural wisdom together and is saying, “I like the way you think!” What an encouragement that would be!

Maybe we shouldn’t criticize ourselves too harshly for not always living up to Jesus’ example. It might be wiser to think about God’s encouragement for us to simply keep on learning and growing.

There may be only one correct way to arrange the States of our Union, but when Skylar moved them around a bit, she was learning other things, like the distance between two points. More importantly, she was learning that wishing for something doesn’t make it so.

As we continue studying the Bible and as we work to put it into practice, w­­e might discover all kinds of new things God wants us to know – expanded ways to think about him and our lives in relation to him. And as we move the pieces around, we might even get to hear him say, “I like the way you think!”

“The Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Timothy 2:7)