Enriching our lives
Topic assigned: We are women who “love live and learning”
What gives you
fulfillment in your life? Not just what is fun, or what relaxes you, but when
you are done, you think wow I feel good about myself and my life.
Hobbies
President Monson said, “Reading is one of the true pleasures of
life. In our age of mass culture, when so much that we encounter is abridged,
adulterated, shredded, and boiled down, it is mind–easing and mind–inspiring to
sit down privately with a congenial book”.
“No matter where we live,
how old we are, or what our circumstances may be, we can always learn new
things that will enrich our lives by making them more interesting and useful”
(Relief Society Magazine, July 1967).
Hobbies can aid in
spiritual development. Worthy music, dance, art, and writing are among the
creative activities that can enrich the soul. A good hobby can dispel heartache
and give zest to life. Through the years, one of President Hinckley’s
hobbies has been his home. As a young father, he learned how to build. He
acquired the skills necessary to remodel a house and make needed repairs. And
more important, he has built and maintained the trust of his wife and their
children. Together they have established—and are still adding to—wonderful memories
with their children and grandchildren, who know that they are part of “a chosen
generation … called … out of darkness into [the] marvellous light” of the
Lord. From the Hinckleys’ parental example, we can learn a great lesson. Love
at home comes when companions cultivate their commitment to keep the
commandments of God. Elder Nelson 1997
President Uctdorf October 2008: your happiness
your heritage
Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop
ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it
into something of beauty.
You might say, “I’m not the creative type. When I sing, I’m
always half a tone above or below the note. I cannot draw a line without a
ruler. And the only practical use for my homemade bread is as a paperweight or
as a doorstop.”
If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters of the most
creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very
spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God?
Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty,
function, and capacity beyond imagination.
If you are a mother, you participate with God in His work of
creation—not only by providing physical bodies for your children but also by
teaching and nurturing them. If you are not a mother now, the creative talents
you develop will prepare you for that day, in this life or the next.
You may think you don’t have talents, but that is a false
assumption, for we all have talents and gifts, every one of us. The
bounds of creativity extend far beyond the limits of a canvas or a sheet of
paper and do not require a brush, a pen, or the keys of a piano. Creation means bringing into existence
something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter.
What you create doesn’t have to be perfect. So what if the eggs
are greasy or the toast is burned? Don’t
let fear of failure discourage you. Don’t let the voice of critics paralyze
you—whether that voice comes from the outside or the inside.
If you still feel
incapable of creating, start small. Try to see how many smiles you can create,
write a letter of appreciation, learn a new skill, identify a space and
beautify it.
Nearly a century and a
half ago, President Brigham Young spoke to the Saints of his day. “There is a
great work for the Saints to do,” he said. “Progress, and improve upon and make
beautiful everything around you. Cultivate the earth, and cultivate your minds.
Build cities, adorn your habitations, make gardens, orchards, and vineyards,
and render the earth so pleasant that when you look upon your labors you may do
so with pleasure, and that angels may delight to come and visit your beautiful
locations. In the mean time continually seek to adorn your minds with all the
graces of the Spirit of Christ.”
The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your
capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in
the life to come. Sisters, trust and rely on the Spirit. As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create
something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you
but also the world within you.
Luke 2:40, 46, 52
Embracing a broader meaning of education
D&C 88:40
The meaning of education is often assumed to be somehow related
to “going to school” or learning as an external experience, related only to
acquiring knowledge or skills helpful toward work productivity in society. All too often, when a woman makes the
conscious effort to become “educated,” she perceives her alternatives as the
following: (1) to seek fulfillment outside her home, (2) to sacrifice her
education in order to raise a family, or (3) to try to balance career and
family in some “superwoman” fashion. But I submit that the education of a
woman is much broader, comprehensive, and perhaps more personal. Let us begin
by considering the term “education.” Education
is seen here, in its most idealistic sense, as an unveiling of the natural
thirst of the mind and soul, and subsequently their replenishment, refreshment,
and expansion. Considered in its broadest sense, education may occur at
school, at home, with family, at church, or even with an enlightening thought
in a moment of solitude. Education is more than learning. It is a complex
interactive teaching and learning process.
While serving a mission
in Colombia, South America, I met a humble sister who truly exemplified this
principle. I knew her as Hermana Cabrera. Her tiny two-room home had no heat or
electricity. She shared her only water source, a pump in the plaza, with five
or six other families. She lived alone with her young son and daughter on the
barest subsistence. She had attended school as a girl only long enough to learn
to read. But her “educated” influence of refinement was evident all around
her—in the hand-crocheted tablecloth on the rough wooden table; in the pictures
of flowers and loved ones on her walls; in her constant, searching questions
and study of the gospel; in the refined, dignified, mature demeanor of her
children.
The potential lies within each of us to become
educated as we have described, and to educate our posterity, that the human
condition may be enriched and improved. The way is open for you and me to step
onto a path of progression toward excellence.
Education can be pursued by all of us, wherever we may be. Indeed, we have only
to open our minds and hearts, drinking in the fulfillment and exhilaration that
flows from the expansion of our souls.
Activity: Ideas about how
to enrich our lives more than just the classroom
Knowledge is so accessible: how do we can we use it?
“We live in a world where knowledge is developing at an
ever-accelerating rate. Drink deeply from this ever-springing well of wisdom
and human experience” (Gordon B. Hinckley
Curiosity
“Sometimes I think this
is what makes the difference between a good student and a poor one. Just a
little curiosity. If you have it, cultivate it—hold fast to it. Never let it
go. If you do not have it—get it. It is just that simple. The rewards for
intellectual curiosity are many. The world will always be your pumpkin, full of
magic, full of wonder. You will be
interesting to your friends, to your husband, and a joy to your children. You
will have perpetual youth.” - Marjorie Pay Hinckley
President Hinckley’s love
of learning is catalyzed by curiosity. He grasps every opportunity to learn
from others. On one occasion, I heard him quiz a local security officer for
nearly an hour regarding crime control in a major city. I have heard him
converse with building contractors, reporters, and those who specialize in the
arts, architecture, business, government, law, medicine, and other disciplines.
He knows their vocabularies, their
challenges, and their strengths.
Brigham Young had little
formal education, but he was constantly trying to learn new things and had a
thirst for knowledge.
Importance of Education
Learning is important for Job skills given the continued
change of today’s technology.
Learning to love learning equips us for an ever- changing and
unpredictable future. Knowing how to learn prepares us to discern and act upon opportunities that others may not readily
recognize. I am confident we will pass the test of learning what to do when we do not know what to do
or how to proceed.
Importance of Education for
Women
True to
the Faith: Education
Our education is essential for future children
“Too great care cannot be taken in
educating our young ladies. Great responsibilities will devolve upon them. To
their hands will be mainly committed the formation of the moral and
intellectual character of the young. Let the women of our country be made
intelligent, and their children will certainly be the same. The proper
education of a man decides his welfare; but the interests of a whole family are
secured by the correct education of a woman” (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth,
sel. Jerreld L. Newquist [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1974], 2:138).
“Parents, work at the matter of creating an atmosphere in your
homes. Let your children be exposed to great minds, great ideas, everlasting
truth, and those things which will build and motivate for good….Begin early in
exposing children to books….It takes
time, yes, much of it. It takes self discipline. It takes organizing and
budgeting the minutes and hours of the day. But it will never be a bore as you watch young minds come to know characters,
expressions, and ideas” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, June 1985 Ensign).
Activity: How can we use what we
learned in school directly in our homes and families?
Managing
a home and family requires expertise in numerous areas including but not
limited to:
·
Personal financial
management, Time and resource management, Child development and training, Home
and yard beautification, Cleaning and organizing, Nutrition, Cooking and meal
planning
Don’t
put off enriching your mind
When Elder Nelson told people how long his education took, how
long a doctor’s education took, everyone says yuck!
“Preparation for your
career is not too long if you know what you want to do with your life. How old
will you be thirteen years from now if you don’t pursue your
education? Just as old, whether or not you become what you want to be! So my
counsel then—and now—is to continue your education wherever you are, whatever
your interest and opportunity, however you determine you can best serve
your family and society.”
Livelong learning
D&C 130:18-19
2Nephi 28:30
May I respectfully
suggest an addition to this well-known motto that is too long to put on the
sign but important for us to remember regardless of which university or college
we attend: “Enter to learn to love learning and serving; go forth to continue
learning and serving.” Bednar 2010
“We are in the school [of
mortality] and keep learning, and we do not expect to cease learning while we
live on earth; and when we pass through the veil, we expect still to continue
to learn and increase our fund of information. That may appear a strange idea
to some; but it is for the plain and simple reason that we are not capacitated
to receive all knowledge at once. We must therefore receive a little here and a
little there.” Brigham Young
“The acquisition of
knowledge is a lifelong, sacred activity, pleasing to our Father in Heaven and
favored by His servants.” (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Apr. 09 Ensign)
“The Lord and His Church
have always encouraged education to increase our ability to serve Him and our
Heavenly Father’s children. For each of us, whatever our talents, He has
service for us to give. And to do it well always involves learning, not once or
for a limited time, but continually.” Eyring 2002
How can we devote more time to studying and learning? For
example, do we take advantage of the moments we spend waiting?
Enhances spiritual learning
D&C 93:36
D&C 109:7
“Secular knowledge and
spiritual knowledge can complement each other. Because God created the earth
and the things that inhabit it, studying geology, physics and biology teaches
us more about the greatness of our Creator. Authors and poets can write with
heavenly inspiration, so reading their work can give us insight into the nature
of our souls and what it means to be human. Sometimes listening to a piece of
music can help us feel God's love. Both secular knowledge and spiritual
knowledge benefit from dialogue. Both require observation, work, and practice.
So although we sometimes think of secular and spiritual as opposites or even as
contradictory, a true knowledge of God and the world He created shows us that
understanding one helps to understand the other.” Mormon.org
As a people, we rightfully place high priority on secular
learning and vocational development. We want and we must excel in scholarship
and craftsmanship. I commend you for striving diligently to gain an education
and become an expert in your field. I invite you to also become experts in the
doctrines of the gospel. uchtdorf
Leaders of this Church
have repeatedly emphasized the importance of education. It is a vital component
of wisdom. Not long after the pioneers began construction of their temple in
Illinois, they established the University of the City of Nauvoo. The First
Presidency proclaimed that this university “will enable us to teach our
children wisdom, to instruct them in all the knowledge and learning, in the
arts, sciences, and learned professions.” Elder Nelson
Because of our sacred regard for each human intellect, we
consider the obtaining of an education to be a religious responsibility. Yet
opportunities and abilities differ. I
believe that in the pursuit of education, individual desire is more influential
than institution, and personal faith more forceful than faculty.
Spiritual Education
God will help
us learn
D&C 88:78-80
Because vast amounts of information are so readily available and
sophisticated technologies make possible widespread and even global
collaboration, we may be prone to put
our “trust in the arm of flesh” (2 Nephi 4:34; see also 28:31) as we
grapple with complex challenges and problems. We
perhaps might be inclined to rely primarily upon our individual and collective
capacity to reason, to innovate, to plan, and to execute. Certainly we must use
our God-given abilities to the fullest, employ our best efforts, and exercise
appropriate judgment as we encounter the opportunities of life. But our mortal
best is never enough. Bednar 2010
“My knowledge is, if you will follow the teachings of Jesus
Christ and his Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament, every man and woman
will be put in possession of the Holy Ghost. … They will know things that are,
that will be, and that have been. They will understand things in heaven, things
on the earth, and things under the earth, things of time, and things of
eternity, according to their several callings and capacities.”
How can we better
recognize opportunities to learn that the Lord has provided for us?
The church provides ways for
us to learn through its programs
“Sunday School, priesthood, Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, seminary,
and institute classes may be held in dedicated buildings, under a tree, or in a
home. But each class is part of a plan for lifelong gospel learning. We can
have great expectations for the power of those learning hours!
Daughters
in my Kingdom quote
Learning is a natural result
of spiritual conversion
Learning
to love learning is central to the gospel of Jesus Christ, is
vital to our ongoing spiritual and personal development, and is an absolute
necessity in the world in which we do now and will yet live, serve, and work.
(bednar 2010)
Conversion brings a drive
to learn. From the Restoration of
the Church of Jesus Christ in the time of Joseph Smith to our own day, you can see evidence of this. Joseph Smith, as a very young man, translated the Book of Mormon from plates inscribed with a language no one on earth
understood. He did it by a divine gift of revelation from God. But he later hired a tutor to teach him
and other leaders of the Church ancient languages. Joseph Smith had essentially
no formal schooling, yet the effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ on him was to make him want to learn more so that he
could be more useful to God and to God’s children. Eyring 2002
“Not only does the
religion of Jesus Christ make the people acquainted with the things of God, and
develop within them moral excellence and purity, but it holds out every
encouragement and inducement possible, for them to increase in knowledge and
intelligence, in every branch of mechanism, or in the arts and sciences, for
all wisdom, and all the arts and sciences in the world are from God, and are
designed for the good of his people.” Brigham Young
Spiritual learning should
come first
A hierarchy of importance exists among the things you and I can learn.
Indeed, all learning is not equally
important. The Apostle Paul taught this truth in his second epistle to
Timothy as he warned that in the latter days many people would be “ever learning, and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
Bednar 2010
Some facts are helpful or interesting to know. Some knowledge is
useful to learn and apply. But gospel
truths are essential for us to understand and live if we are to become what
our Heavenly Father yearns for us to become. The type of learning I am
attempting to describe is not merely the accumulation of data and facts and
frameworks; rather, it is acquiring and applying knowledge for righteousness.
Bednar 2010
“We will have to make
some hard choices of how we use our time. … But remember, you are interested in
education, not just for mortal life but for eternal life. When you see that
reality clearly with spiritual sight, you
will put spiritual learning first and yet not slight the secular learning …”
(Pres. Henry B. Eyring, Liahona and Ensign, August 2009).
It is clear that putting spiritual learning first does
not relieve us from learning secular things. On the contrary, it gives our
secular learning purpose and motivates us to work harder at it.
Why does conversion to
the gospel often result in an increased desire for education?
It would enhance the
learning of any woman to include the scriptures as part of her quest for
education, as our own prophet, President Spencer W. Kimball, admonished: “Study
the scriptures. Thus you may gain strength through the understanding of eternal
things. … We want our sisters to be
scholars of the scriptures as well as our men.”
