Welcome to Week 3 of the Thrive Devotional Series where we are growing and learning together as God’s daughters.

We started off the first two episodes having discussions about Our mindsets and how we can guard and cultivate our minds so we can thrive.

In this episode and the next our focus will be on Education as a pillar for thriving.

I think often about having a garden and being someone who knows all there is to know about keeping a plant alive! Haha

Can I really?

Maybe with guidance and study. I may be able to allow a plant to survive under my watch. Lol

But let’s chat a little about the process of gardening.

I don’t suppose I can just start gardening and expect that my plants will bloom if I have no prior knowledge or skill with gardening, right?

So think about this, why do I think that because it’s God’s desire for me to thrive and flourish, it will automatically happen without my input, without me playing my part by learning what God wants of me and acquiring skills in that area.

I think about Saul who became Paul, and what is recorded in Scriptures about him in the book of Galatians

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.”

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭1:15-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The moment he caught a glimpse of the assignment that God has in store for him, he went to learn and develop himself for the assignment he had been called to.

Let’s look at the life of Paul and see the amazing work he did, the epistles he wrote, the things recorded about him in scripture because he chose to set himself apart for learning.

If we will truly thrive, we must be committed to learning, acquiring the right skills, becoming an expert in whatever we have been called to.

It is our responsibility to sharpen what we have been given and make it better.

Today, as we have this conversation on Education as a pillar for learning, I’d like to start with some Pillars of education and how we can adapt some of that knowledge to our personal learning experiences and development.

These pillars were first developed by Jacques Delore and they speak to how education happens:

1. Learning to know: For education to take place, we must be interested in learning to acquire knowledge about whatever it is that we have chosen to pursue- career, a business, a ministry platform, parenting, marriage. There must be a desire to know and we must acquire knowledge so that we can grow through the knowledge we acquire. Of what use is learning if we will not actually acquire knowledge?

2. Learning to do: Even the Bible says we should not be hearers only but we should be doers of the words we hear. Learning to do is a shift from skill to competence, it is moving from merely acquiring knowledge to become proficient in what we want to focus on. To thrive we show evidence that we are ready for the next level by displaying competence in all things. Think about Daniel and the three Hebrew boys. “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.” - Daniel‬ ‭1:20‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The competence that we display will help us to stand out above in all things and to thrive!

3. Learning to live together: this speaks to collaboration and expanded knowledge, skills and competence through partnerships. If we will thrive we cannot walk alone, we must embrace the fact that we can better develop learning through collaborations and relationships that we cultivate with others. Two are better than one because they have a reward for their labour and one shall chase a thousand and two shall Chase ten thousand- that’s what the Bible says. Why not two thousand? Because collaboration has a multiplier effect and gives exponential increase! Do you want to thrive, then make learning together a part of who you are.

4. Learning to be: this is the highest value we can get from learning. This is where we have internalized learning and it has become one with us. This is the aim of learning - and this is where true transformation takes place. This is the moment where we break through on the other side and find that we have become one with the knowledge we have acquired that it becomes second nature! Think about driving and Muscle memory, when you start driving you are so conscious of every part of the car, but as you drive more and over a period of time, I your driving becomes automatic without you having to think more about it.

These four pillars of learning need to be present on how we choose to learn and engage so that we can thrive.

In applying what we are learning today, ask yourself, in what areas do I need to acquire knowledge? How can I start using these pillars so that the work of learning will be really complete for me to thrive as I should?

This is something we need to give deep thought to.

Are you thinking about being a better parent, business owner, ministry gift, colleague, wife, friend..:?

Start with acquiring knowledge and grow in knowledge.