The Dumbest Kid in the Class

Have you ever felt like the dumbest….

No, wait, I’m not even going to ask that question because I hope your answer would be “No. Of course not. I have no idea what you’re talking about!” (And just in case that wouldn’t be your response, I won’t even ask).

I hate that feeling. Like not only is everyone around you “getting it” but that it really isn’t that difficult a concept and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to comprehend it. For me it is a depressing, isolating, frustrating and discouraging experience, feeling stupid is not fun.

Now it is one thing when it happens in a school situation –quite another in a work environment – and most serious of all when it occurs in “real life.” School might mean a bad grade, work could be a loss in advancement or employment but what about when we’re missing it in life?

I find that I get into a situation, have a problem, a decision to make or a conflict and suddenly I’m the kid with the blank stare on her face. What am I supposed to do? How do I even start solving this equation? What are the pertinent factors? Could someone at least give me some multiple choice answers??? And even though I know that at one point I learned the process and knew how to find the answer now I can’t even remember the basics!.

In preparation for a writing conference I’ve been looking over my writings. Over the past 3 ½ years I’ve written about 300 times. I write when I’ve been so inspired by something that I cannot not write about it; when I have learned something about God that is so big to me that I have to share it. So, in using the learning motif, I have written an “essay” on these concepts of faith approximately twice a week for the last 45 months and STILL, when I get into a situation, I act like I’ve never heard any of the answers before!

How patient is God with us? How many times He comes to us with the same lesson again and again as currently “testing” reveals we just haven’t gotten it yet…

I am beginning to realize that, when it all comes down to it, there are only two things I have to learn; only two truths that impact all of my reality. God is God (and I am not) and Jesus loves me. Who knew that the song I learned as a toddler was actually my earliest exposure to this concept I’ve still yet to grasp?

In every situation there is God – holy, powerful, sovereign, above us, with a plan, in control, of greater understanding that we can every comprehend and there is the fact that He loves us – sent Jesus to die to offer redemption, is a constant help, companion, advocate, strength and is watching over and taking care of those He loves.

Think about it. The thing you’re facing right now. How do these two truths effect the situation and your response to it? It really is all you need to remember.  If God the possessor of all power, strength and understanding loves you - what else do we possibly need to know?

So even though I may have come to the understanding every week for the entirety of my life and yet still forget when a new "test" comes I, the dumbest kid in the class, am assured that God has not given up on me yet because, after all, God is God and Jesus loves me!

“Being confident in this very thing that He which began a good work in your will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6