The Beauty of Learning

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. 

Psalm 119:130 NIV

So much can happen in a year’s time. So much laughter, living, traveling, moving forward along with sadness, loss, stagnation, and despair. A year holds so much we may not even remember the majority of what has occurred or even want to.

In the months of 2025, I focused on the beauty I see in the world around me and how all of it is put into place and made magnificent by the amazing God I serve. He has shown me beauty, splendor, majesty, and abundance in just knowing Him. I have been able to notice the beauty that comes when I am enduring difficult times. This may come in the prayers of friends, the healing words of a doctor, or the beautiful perseverance of a friend who is dealing with never ending health issues, all of it, though, shining through with God’s eternal glory and hope. The beauty of courage and strength in Christ is one that will be hard to forget. Having complete faith in Christ gives us the courage, in hard times, to get up and live, continuing the work with great determination.

How great is our strong, remarkable, miraculous God who can help us see the beauty in every situation even when we are not particularly looking. This is the God who wants us to notice beauty in every situation because He is the source of such beauty and, in the end, brings all the glory to Him.

Now that we have entered 2026, it is time to focus on a new word and to spend time hearing from, seeing, and partaking in the glory God has for me in this new word. This year my focus will be on LEARNING. My desire to learn this year is due to God shouting in my ear, “When are you going to learn?” My interpretation of this is loud and scolding, a bit tough yet full of complete and undeserved love and grace. This is my God letting me know He is here. He is speaking, and watching. And, He is moving. Yet, I have closed my ears to recognizing.

I suppose I will forever be His stubborn child who wants to have control over everything. I will always have times of confusion and misunderstanding, and I will always need God’s guidance. So, opening my eyes to these facts, I want to take this year to learn His Word and have it transform my life rather than just be informative. I no longer want words to read and do nothing else with.

I am thankful the Scriptures are not merely historical documents or literary works; they are actually living and active and have the power to effect change in our hearts and lives. I need the practical guidance the Bible provides my everyday life. I will always be in need of the Word unfolding its truths and guiding me in my decision making, relationships, and challenges. This is certainly not something I will be able to conquer and put aside when the year is done. Growing in the knowledge of God and His will for my life is a lifelong journey which requires dedication and perseverance.

As I begin this new year facing a struggle which continues to cycle around through my life, my desire is to truly learn what God is telling me through this struggle and to apply it to my life the next time the issue tries to rise up and consume me. Being aware of what God is saying to me in this situation will help me keep the enemy at bay when he strives to move into my life and dash my soul with this one source of discomfort.

Psalm 119:130 says, “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” (NIV). Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Bible deciphers the final statement as, “To the most ignorant and unlearned persons, who are but willing to learn.” Undoubtedly, this refers to me. Ignorant and simple, I desire to learn more and more about what God has to say to me and to put it into play in my life, behaviors, relationships and writing. I yearn for the understanding of how much God loves me and believes I am enough in every way. I aspire to trust His words as truth and have faith He is all I need to get through this life of pain, disease, and evil.

Now that the year is moving, pulsing, and breathing, it is time to begin to learn and hear from God and then to understand and believe. No longer do I want to move back to a mindset of negative thoughts, doubt filled words, and pictures of myself which do not depict the conviction and attitude of a God so full of love it was sealed by the Holy Spirit and cannot be taken away. Not now, not ever!

Thank you, Lord for speaking into my ear in your still, small voice and shaking my soul with, “When will you learn?”. Not as an admonishment, but as a Father so full of love, His heart is crushed when I do not believe Him.

Join me on this journey of learning as I spend this year in the Word, learning, studying, absorbing, discovering, and realizing God’s great love for me. I pray you, too, can feel the tremendous desire He has to know you and are able to experience His grace and mercy first hand.