While I can’t speak for you, one thing I will admit about myself is that I don’t feel as intelligent as I did about eighteen months ago. Over the past year and a half, I have spent more time on emotional aspects of life than I have on intellectual things and I believe I have atrophied mentally. With all the emphasis on a new virus, old social issues and who would become the next president I haven’t spent as much time gaining knowledge as I have on dealing with emotional conflicts. This has not been an issue just in my secular life, I believe that my spiritual academics have failed as well. As I look back on the last several months the term “getting by” leaps to the forefront. Concepts such as “if we can just hold things together” and “we just need to get through this” have overshadowed my commitment to learn more and study deeper.
Again, I can’t speak for you, but it would surprise me if I am the only one in this boat. The cares of the world have stolen more than joy, they have robbed some of us of intellectual and spiritual development, too. If you find yourself in the predicament, let’s challenge each other to get back on the track of knowledge. Let’s return to reading something more than op-eds and the latest COVID-19 statistics. Let’s learn something new (and accurate) about history, science, literature, geography or even develop a deeper understanding of our profession. Yet, as we do that, let’s get back to our spiritual education as well. I like the way the King James Version challenges Christians in their translation of II Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”. When we apply this to our lives, we’ll not only be smarter, we’ll also enjoy a better temperament.