Teaching an Earthworm to Swim

I came upon Vince and Elliot (my sons) studying a little glass with some water in it.  "What are you doing, boys?"  I asked them.

"We found this worm," Elliot told me.  "And now we are teaching him to swim!"

"Really," I said and looking closer saw the poor earthworm floating in the water.  "How is he doing?"

"Not very well,"  Elliot said.  "But maybe he will figure it out soon."

I never followed up to see if Mr. Earthworm ever learned to swim, but I doubt it.  It probably would be better to spend time in designing earthworm sized flotation devices than teaching them to swim.  It isn't in their nature and physical capability to do so.  They were created to burrow in the earth and that is what they do really well.

Perhaps it seems like a different subject entirely, but this is the same reason that we humans struggle to be good.  Ever since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, our nature and hearts incline towards darkness and sin.

It is for this reason that Jesus came and died.  He came not only to atone for our sins, but also to create in us a new nature, capable of serving God the way He desires.

Without that changed heart, we are incapable of learning to be righteous before God.

You may be able to teach the world to sing, but you can't teach an earthworm to swim.

It needs a change in nature, not just a change in knowledge.

Knowing Everything?

"Dad, I'm really not into birds any more," Vince told me a few days ago.

"Really," I said.  "Why not?"

"It's just that I know everything about them -- at least for the birds in North America," he replied, very seriously.  "Now, I need to learn about wildflowers."

It is a little funny when an eight year old tells you that he knows everything there is to know about birds (or any subject for that matter).  I suppose what he means is that he has exhausted the information found in the field guide to North American birds that I gave to him a few months ago.  He certainly has studied it a lot over that time.

One of the things that growing up fixes is that feeling that we know everything. 

I think that I knew the most when I was in sixth grade.  I knew all of the state capitals, had a decent concept of history, and could do long division, fractions and even diagram sentences.  I knew there were a few gaps in my knowledge base, but I was sure that within a couple of years, even those would be resolved.

Flash forward thirty years and I have finished college, medical school, and three years of residency.  I take a lot of continuing medical education.  The one thing I am sure of at this point is that I don't have complete knowledge about any particular subject. 

That's more than OK, because it would be an awfully small world in which I could know "everything," even about a relatively small field like Birds of North America.

The reality is that this world is bigger and more intricate than human thought is capable of imagining and beneath each layer of answers is another set of questions.

Just like the God who made it.

A Word Fitly Spoken

"Dr. Waldron, do you remember what you said to me the first time I came in to see you?"  The lady sitting across from me asked.

I tried to think back to something I might have said, but nothing popped into my head.  I have so many conversations with people every day (and probably talk a little too much) that I often don't remember specific things I say.

"No, I'm sorry I don't remember," I told her.

"I think I was telling you about some shoulder pain I was having and you said 'Now remember, you've never been as old before as you are today!'"

It does sound like the sort of thing I would say and the sort of statement you might find in a fortune cookie too, but I still didn't remember it.  It still strikes me how the words we say make impacts on other people.

There have been many times in the last few weeks where people shared with me things that I said to them when they were going through dark times that helped them. 

It is easy to believe that only actions are important and that words are relatively unimportant in life.  And yet, with words we can encourage another, add humor to lift someone's spirit, or even share areas in someone's life that need changing for the better.  Of course, on the other hand, those same words can tear down.

Each day, we have opportunities to touch other people's lives and hearts.  We may not remember the things we say for long, but others may still be carrying those words, for good or for ill, for many years into the future.

Let us always speak them for the good of others.

"A word fitly spoke is like apples of gold in a setting of silver."  (Proverbs 25:11)