Learning by the Spirit

There are two types of learners. There are those that learn by what their teacher tells them, and there are those that learn by the spirit. If you learn only by the words of the teacher it is possible for you to come to a lesson and learn absolutely nothing, because the teacher does not know more than you do.

But if you allow your teacher to instead be the Spirit, you can learn great and powerful lessons from even the most humble and weak of teachers. Someone made a comment to me a few years ago that when people stand up and pray at the beginning of class "Please bless the teacher that the spirit will guide their words that we may learn" or any variation thereof... it is a useless prayer. What good does the teacher having the spirit do, if the students are not listening? What good does the spirit guiding the teacher's words do, if the students hearts and minds are unresponsive?

So instead, I've been recommended an alternate prayer. "Please bless us as the students, that we may be able to learn by the spirit."

I think it's an important principle we would all do well to remember. Similar to the sentiment that you only get as much out of an activity or relationship, as you put into it.