“Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.”

PROVERBS 1:5 (NIV)

I was driving to Madison for a meeting, and my mind was already racing ahead. I was thinking about what I wanted to say, how I wanted to present my ideas, and what impression I wanted to leave. I wanted to be seen, heard, and valued.

But somewhere near Oconomowoc, a different thought dropped in: When was the last time you were a student?

Not in the literal sense. I wasn’t talking about enrolling in a class or earning another degree. I was talking about posture—the willingness to sit at the feet of wisdom and learn from the people around me.

That morning, the highway was open, and I thought about how many times I had been in conversations where I was so focused on what I was going to say next that I missed what was being said to me. How many times had I walked into a room thinking I had all the answers, only to realize later that I had missed the lesson?

I passed the hospital on my right and thought about doctors. They spend years in school, then years in residency, learning from those who have done it before them. And even after they become experts, they keep learning. Still studying. Still humbling themselves to new information.

Why don’t we do that in life with our situations? Sometimes we face the same challenges again and again, patterns we cannot seem to break. And I realized something: maybe we were repeating them because we didn’t learn the lesson the first time.

Maybe we keep living paycheck to paycheck because we haven’t learned to manage our money. Maybe we keep ending up in the same toxic relationships because we haven’t done the inner work to recognize the red flags. Or, like me, maybe we keep hitting a toe on the same corner of the dresser because we refuse to get a nightlight.

In this season, winter was coming, and the trees along the highway were bare, stripped down to their core. They weren’t resisting it. They were preparing for it, resting, getting ready for the next season of growth.

That’s what being a student looks like. It is humbling yourself enough to admit you don’t know everything. It is leaning into conversations with people who have wisdom you don’t. It is recognizing that the situation you are in might be a test you need to pass before you can move forward.

Mile Marker 263.2 allowed me to make a commitment. The next time I walked into a room, I wasn’t going to focus on being the smartest person there. I was going to focus on being the most willing to learn.

Life is constantly teaching. The moment you think you have learned it all is the moment you stop growing. So, here is my question for you: How often are you being a student? Are you humble enough to listen? Willing enough to learn? Open enough to admit when you don’t have the answers? The situation you are facing might be a lesson you haven’t passed yet.

The moment you stop learning is the moment you stop growing.

Keep moving forward,

Dr. Key