The Power of an Example

By Anna

“Anna, I need your help.. (Sigh)” I heard my little sister tiredly exclaim to me as I passed by her desk in the living room. I glanced over her shoulder and saw that she was working on a colorful math page. (I love it when schoolwork looks appealing!) “What do you need help with?” I inquired. She silently pointed to an assignment involving creating her own multiplication and division equations with provided digits typed above the blank boxes. 

Quickly, I thought of how I should try to re-explain the written instructions, but then I realized that too many words would bore her already tired mind and weigh it into a daze. “How can I best get this concept across in the easiest form for her to comprehend and execute with ease right now?” and the answer came speedily: work a similar exemplary equation and let her watch and hear my mental thought process. 

I chose different digits to work from, then copied the format of her little page onto a blank sheet of notebook paper. Without saying anything else I started thinking through my work page out loud. As I finished filling the last box, she exclaimed with delight, “OH! I get it! That’s kind of like the one over here!” and she found a similar equation formerly presented in her text book. 

I walked away without saying a word, and about 2 minutes later peaked around the corner to see how she was doing. Indeed, she had gotten it, and was well on her way with new motivation to tackle the next challenge.

The thought then occurred to me: as more experienced personnel in our realm, we sometimes spend so much time trying to explain simple concepts, and forget that there are more ways of teaching than in just words. There are times when words are necessary, but more often than not, it is our example that will speak louder than words to those who are coming up behind us. 

Paul charges us in 1 Timothy 4:12 to be “an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” In all aspects of life, others are watching from afar as well as close by, whether we realize it or not. What kind of example are we setting through OUR little choices in the small moments of life?