How many times did Mom tell me to sit up straight? Let me count the ways. It was so annoying, and slouching was so much more comfortable. I had enough things to do without having to think when I sat!

Then one day I glanced down at my shoulders, exposed by my sleeveless shirt, and noticed how they seemed to jut forward ever so slightly. I tried to roll them back. They still stuck out a little bit. Panic washed over me as I wondered if I’d done permanent damage to myself by not heeding Mom’s advice. In reality, what I was noticing was probably just something about the way my body’s built. Sitting up straight is more about my spine than my shoulders (try slouching your shoulders while keep your spine upright). But I was scared enough to pay attention to my posture for a while.

I realized I actually had pretty good posture. I’m glad I learned something from Mom’s advice (a.k.a., correction) even when I ignored it. All her “Sit up straight!” instructions came back to me recently when I was travelling with a friend who observed as I worked on my laptop and commented on how “properly” I sit and hold my hands and arms while typing. Mom gets part of the credit. The rest goes to a very traditional and disciplined high school typing teacher. (Yes, I’m old enough to have learned on an actual typewriter. We thought we were privileged and advanced because we had new electric typewriters!)

Sometimes we learn things even when we try not to. We learn by observing or by hearing something over and over. It’s like learning by osmosis. People often use the phrase of learning by osmosis when they need to know something they don’t want to take the effort to learn. They wish there was a simple way – like soaking it up through the brain by sleeping on a book. News flash…it’s not going to happen.

But perhaps we learn “by osmosis” in another sense. It’s a gradual assimilation of information. If you hear or see something enough times, you’re going to learn it. There are many things I learned from Mom not because she stood beside me and led me through every step but because I was around her when she did it many times. I’ve learned the same way from other family members, friends, coworkers, teachers, and people on television. I’ve learned useful things and trivial things. I’ve learned good habits and bad habits.

What about you? What’s something you cringed to hear when you were younger but appreciate now?

What’s something positive you’ve “learned by osmosis” from someone?

What’s something negative you’ve “learned by osmosis” from someone?

Many of us would like to learn Scripture by sleeping on our Bibles and having it seep into our brains. We want to know Scripture, but it takes time to read and study it. And we don’t seem to be able to remember it sometimes anyway. If we can’t remember it, how can we apply it?

Choose a word that describes something about your life right now. Conflict, struggle, doubt, change. Or what you want more of in your life. Joy, peace, growth, discipline. Use a concordance to look up verses in the Bible containing that word. Choose one verse to live – not just learn – this week.

Write it on sticky notes in several translations. Each time you see a note, read the verse aloud so you hear yourself say it. Watch for God to highlight the verse in your daily life. Journal your experiences. Share with a friend. Plant God’s Word in your heart and mind, water it with experiences of all your senses, and God will nourish its growth.

I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it. But God is the One who made it grow. 1 Corinthians 3:6