Training Wheels

June 2nd, 2011

My teaching philosophy has always been to decide what you want to learn and do it for a few seconds everyday. This worked so well for 35 years in the classroom, that I now use it on myself. I found a wonderful set of “training wheels” to use when trying to learn new concepts – my cell phone wallpaper. I put on it whatever it is I want to be exposed to for a few seconds throughout the day, and after a few weeks, I know I’ve mastered it when I feel it’s time to change the wallpaper.

For the last few weeks I’d been having a terrible time leaving a situation in God’s hands. I’d give it over to Him in the morning, by afternoon I’d take it back, and worry about it all through the evening. I was being consumed by it, but I could never remember the message I read each morning that brought me such peace and made so much sense. This message calms me instantly, and has done so for years since I was a freshman in college:

“Don’t worry about anything. Instead pray about everything. Tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. It is then you will experience God’s peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. ~ Phil 4:6,7

Then, 2 weeks ago, when my pain and worry were really getting the best of me, I got a bright idea. I took a picture of the message, set it as the wallpaper on my phone, and all day, whenever I turned my phone on, there was the message. I got exposed to it for a few seconds at a time all day. What I found was that each time I saw it, it brought me instant calm and peace – I didn’t even have to read it, as I knew it by heart. I merely had to just see it and receive it’s effect on me. (I like to call it a little blessing I’d get each time I looked at my phone.)

Now, under the careful tutelage of my cell phone, I have truly given the situation over to God and have found the peace I sought. I changed the picture to one I took of the sun setting behind the Sagamore bridge over the canal, and now I find that peace many times throughout the day in that picture.

Just a few minutes ago this appeared in my email: (there are no coincidences)
“Praise the bridge that carried you over.” ~ George Colman

And so, as another day goes by, “training wheels” come in many forms, and…I have written.