Learning from people

There are 3 kinds of people, the people you actively try not to learn from (or at least use them as the what not to do), the people you actively try to learn from, and the rest who don't really figure in the decision and tend to offer accidental learning.

I have been thinking about the last decade and about the people God has placed in my life who I actively want to learn from. God has blessed me in that, in a few minutes, I could easily name 10 people who I want to learn from. The positive influences in my life have so far outweighed the negative ones, I am struggling to think of any.

The people I desire to learn from have characteristics that I want in myself, Godliness, patience, kind words and thoughts, selflessness, friendly humour, grace, youthfulness even in age, energy, sense of fun, perseverance, the ability to love even people who are hard to love. Especially I watch and learn how they parent. I love watching people parent.

I am especially happy to be able to spend time with a family including 4 daughters ranging from 7 to 15 years. I am able to see their mum teach her girls in humility by admitting and explaining what she, the mum, has done wrong and why it was wrong. These are not big misdemeanors but it teaches Godly reactions to situations, how to better handle situations and how to apologize when we are wrong.

I love being able to watch Godly men and especially women living their lives and demonstrating concrete examples of how to glorify God in normal life.