People often have more wisdom than they know. Years of experience can teach much. Failures as well as successes provide abundant lessons for life. Just because some people do not mount a platform and deliver a lecture does not mean that they do not have much to teach us. The reality is that there is a bonanza of wisdom deposits hidden in the lives of people all around you. Our task is to discover them and to energetically mine them.
Just as treasure hunters develop a discerning eye for locations where there are valuable deposits of minerals or items of great value, hidden from view, so an astute person is always on the lookout for deposits of wisdom in people around them.
You are unlikely to learn from others if you are doing all the talking. Asking good questions rather than making pronouncements is the key to unlocking the wisdom deposits in others. Some people have no idea how much they know! Their modesty leads them to assume that everyone already knows what they know. Yet they are wrong. Not everyone understands how to succeed in business without compromising their integrity or harming their family. Not everyone perceives how to raise their kids in a secular world so they grow up to love God with all their heart as adults. Not everyone is cognizant of how to meet all the demands of the workplace and yet develop a growing and intimate relationship with both God and their spouse.
So, when you come across people who have apparently achieved such fetes, don’t wait for them to wax eloquent about their methodology. Start asking questions! (and taking notes!). Learn from such people, whether they see themselves as teachers or not!