{"id":331,"date":"2010-08-12T08:52:52","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T08:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/teaching-this-old-dog-some-new-tricks.html"},"modified":"2010-08-12T08:52:52","modified_gmt":"2010-08-12T08:52:52","slug":"teaching-this-old-dog-some-new-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/08\/teaching-this-old-dog-some-new-tricks.html","title":{"rendered":"Teaching This Old Dog Some New Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"old<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

When I was a little girl, I picked up an assumption that
\nonce I reached a certain age–say thirty or so–I wouldn’t be able to change
\nanymore. I guess my parents seemed like fixed entities, and I figured I would
\nbe too. Plus there was that saying I heard all the time, “You can’t teach an
\nold dog new tricks.”<\/p>\n

I’m thirty three now, and I hope I was wrong.<\/p>\n

And yet, truth be told, I’ve been a bit of an old dog for a long
\ntime. Learning new things has never come easily to me. I remember the time in
\ncollege when Peter suggested we shoot some hoops. “Oh, no,” I said. “I can’t.”<\/p>\n

“What do you mean you can’t?”<\/p>\n

“I can’t shoot a basketball. I’ve never done it before. I’m
\ntoo short.”<\/p>\n

For the rest of the summer, we worked on it. I never got
\nvery good. I never loved it. But I tried, and I was glad he pushed me. <\/p>\n

Same thing happened about eight years ago. Peter suggested
\nwe try a yoga class. “Oh, no,” I said. “I’ve never done it before.”<\/p>\n

“Right,” he replied. “That’s why you go to the beginner
\nclass. So you can learn.”<\/p>\n

In this case, I loved it, and I’ve been a regular ever
\nsince (see “What Yoga Has to do with Snowstorms<\/a>” and “Yoga and Christianity: What’s the Deal?<\/a>” for more of those thoughts).<\/p>\n

And then there are the more substantive changes. The
\nsoftening of my heart through caring for my mother-in-law as she battled
\ncancer. The grief that turned to joy and a new receptivity to my fellow human
\nbeings after Penny was born with Down syndrome. (For much more on either of those statements, go to my website<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

It’s safer to stick with what I know. Reread old books. Cook the same food. Avoid uncomfortable situations. but the messiness of learning brings with it joy. Trying a new recipe. Discovering a new favorite writer. Opening my heart so God can clean up yet another dark corner of my soul. <\/p>\n

I may have been born an old dog, but I want to keep learning new tricks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a little girl, I picked up an assumption that once I reached a certain age–say thirty or so–I wouldn’t be able to change anymore. I guess my parents seemed like fixed entities, and I figured I would be too. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}