My husband and I have been taking weekly tennis lessons this winter. While we have been playing tennis for a while, the lessons have improved our game and therefore have made playing even more enjoyable. Friends of ours who are in their 80’s are also taking lessons. They may be young octogenarians but the fact that they still want to learn and improve speaks to the life learners that they are.

I am a firm believer in life learning and in being curious about the world. But what about being a life teacher?

The other day our instructor said that he did not believe that people are too old to learn something new. As a teacher he is looking for and open to the receptive student. He is optimistic and hopeful that as long as one is alive, one can always learn something. Yet, he doesn’t write anyone off just because they do not seem like the typical learner.

I like that attitude of our friends and our instructor: being teachable and teach-able.

The greatest teacher was Jesus. He used object lessons and teachable moments. He spoke in parables so that the individual “student” would have to work out the answers. He saw the learning potential in everyone, especially those who were marginalized and on the fringes. He taught in the literal posture of humility: In the ancient world a teacher would sit down when something important was being imparted. But the act of sitting, if others around you are standing, is a vulnerable position especially if those around you might not agree with what is being said. Many times Jesus sat among the multitudes. By being in that vulnerable position, it conveys the attitude that the teacher is open to learning alongside the pupil.

The greatest student was Jesus. While it could be said that He did have an advantage over the rest of us, He knew His subject matter. Yet He demonstrated the act of constantly learning by constantly engaging with the world around Him and with those He came in contact. He daily checked in with God for instruction and guidance.

It made me think about how open am I to learning and in passing along that learning? Am I in a posture of learning from others? Do I have the posture of expecting others to learn? Have I written off some people as un-teachable?

What about you? What is your posture and attitude towards learning and teaching? Who were your most influential teachers? What made them so special? What was the most valuable information that you learned? Have you ever “taught” someone? What was the information or circumstances?

As our recently deceased friend demonstrated through his relationships with people: being in a posture of humility of learning about others-what makes them tick and what they are interested in- opens the channels of shared information and ultimately expands our world.

As we go about our day, may we look for opportunities to “teach” others and ways we may be taught. Not in a patronizing nor haughty, “I know it all” way, but rather in a way that looks at others and information as teachable and teach-able: What I have to impart may be helpful to you because what you have to impart may be helpful to me.

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. Gilbert K. Chesterton