There’s a saying in college sports: “The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.” Impatient fans don’t always remember that. The young quarterback has trouble picking up his receivers? “He can’t pass.” Smart fans, and coaches, know better. He may well be able to pass, but he needs time — to learn how to do it consistently, in a game-time environment, against older, more talented players than he’s ever faced. There’s no way he can fast-forward through those growing pains. He just has to go through them.
As in sports, so, too, in life. (A cliche’, I know. Is there any way to talk about sports and avoid them?) There are some things we can be taught in advance; there are others we just have to learn from experience. And there are still others we could have been taught in advance but didn’t heed until we learned from experience.
So think back. From, say, early college onward, what have you learned (or what are you still learning) from experience, in any part of life: academic, professional, relational, spiritual?
