Seek Learning, You Have A Work To Do

This was a lesson that I taught in 2012.  I felt impressed to read many of the referenced articles at the end of the article that we will be learning from today.  The name of the article that we will be looking at is “Seek Learning:  You Have a Work to Do” by Mary N. Cook.  Mary N. Cook was the First Counsellor in the Young Women’s General Presidency.  In this article, she is talking to the young women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints about getting an education.

It may seem inappropriate for us to be discussing this article, however, the same principles apply to us no matter our age or living circumstances.

Let’s look at the Standards for Youth.  They have been republished in 2011 and can be found on LDS.org.

Read page 9 “Education is an important part of Heavenly Father’s plan to help you become more like Him.  He wants you to educate your mind and to develop your skills and talents, your power to act well in your responsibilities, and your capacity to appreciate life.  The education you gain will be valuable to you during mortality and in the life to come.

Education will prepare you for greater service in the world and in the Church.  It will help you better provide for yourself, your family, and those in need.  It will also help you be a wise counsellor and companion to your future spouse and an informed and effective teacher of your future children.

Education is an investment that brings great rewards and will open the doors of opportunity that may otherwise be closed to you.  Plan now to obtain an education.  Be willing to work diligently and make sacrifices if necessary. Share your educational goals with your family, friends, and leaders so they can support and encourage you.

Maintain an enthusiasm for learning throughout your life.  Find joy in continuing to learn and in expanding your interests.  Choose to actively participate in the learning opportunities available to you.

Your education should include spiritual learning.  Study the scriptures and the words of the latter-day prophets.  Participate in seminary and institute.  Continue throughout your life to learn about Heavenly Father’s plan.  This spiritual learning will help you find answers to the challenges of life and will invite the companionship of the Holy Ghost.”

As we read this, we should ask ourselves, how can I relate to this standard?  What can I do to gain more education?  Hopefully, by the end of the lesson, we will each have some ideas.

Mary Cook does provide some ideas that we will discover as we discuss this article.

 

One of the first things that Ms Cook says is (paragraph 1 page 120) “We see you courageously arising and shining forth with light in a world where great challenges accompany great opportunities.  This may cause you to wonder, what does the future hold for me?”  This same statement can apply to us.  There is no reason why we can’t apply what Ms Cook says about the youth.  After all, older people have challenges and opportunities, too.  The only difference is that older people have certain experiences that the young people have not had the opportunity to have.  Every time that Gordon comes home and tells me about something happening at work, I wonder about where we will be, when will we be going and what does the Lord want me to accomplish.  Just because we are older does not mean that Heavenly Father doesn’t have anything for us to do.

The next paragraph is interesting.  It reads “God gave you moral agency and the opportunity to learn while on earth, and He has a work for you to do.  To accomplish this work, you have an individual responsibility to seek learning.”

That still applies to us.  All women have this responsibility as well.  Why do we need education? 

There are a number of reasons why we need education:

1.  “Education will open the doors of opportunity.  As you follow the Lord’s admonition to ‘See learning, even by study and also by faith’ you gain not only knowledge from your study but added light as you learn by faith.  President Gordon B. Hinckley said “The pattern of study you establish during your formal schooling will in large affect your lifelong thirst for knowledge.  You must get all of the education that you possibly can. Sacrifice anything that is needed to be sacrificed to qualify yourselves to do the work of this world.  Train your minds and hands to become an influence for good as you go forward with your lives.” 
2. President Thomas S. Monson said: “Often the future is unknown; therefore, it behoves us to prepare for uncertainties.  I urge you to pursue your education and learn marketable skills so that, should such a situation arise, you are prepared to provide.”
3. “Gaining knowledge now will pay huge dividends when you become a mother.  ‘A mother’s education level has a profound influence on the educational choices of her children.’  A mother’s education can hold the ‘key to halt the poverty cycle.’”
4. Educated mothers tend to:  give birth to healthier babies, have children who are healthier, be more confident, resilient and have improved reasoning and judgement.
5. In “The Family:  A Proclamation to the World”, it states:  mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children.  Providing an education for your children is part of that nurturing.  Mothers will be the most important teacher that children will ever have.

We’ve now looked at the reasons why we should get an education.  The most important reason has not yet been mentioned.  We have been taught that whatever intelligence that we have gained while in this earthly state, we will be able to take it with us into the eternities.

What kind of education should I be looking at?  That answer depends on you, your inclinations, and your talents.  There are different kinds of education, spiritual, intellectual, physical.

How can we get the education that we desire?  What if I don’t have much money?

Sister Cook has mentioned some of the ways that she has gained education in different situations.  Surrounding yourself with exemplary women who can teach you skills in homemaking, art, music, family history, sports, writing, or speaking.  As them to mentor you.  Any time that you have something that you want to learn, find someone who knows how to do it and ask them to help you.  That is what mentoring is all about, someone taking the time to teach you something until you are comfortable doing it on your own.  Then share your new skill.

You can return to school to learn knowledge and skills.  Many colleges run a Continuing Education department for their local communities.  You will have the opportunity to learn almost anything you want from computer skills to cake decorating and woodworking.  They can incorporate this into a certificate or diploma program. 

While we need to make sure of our job skills, we cannot forget another facet of our lives.  We also need to continue our education in the Gospel.  Ms Cook says: “Seek learning by faith.  We learn by faith as we diligently gain spiritual knowledge through prayer, scripture study, and obedience and as we seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost, who testifies of all truth.  If you do your part to gain knowledge, the Holy Ghost can enlighten your mind.  As you strive to keep yourself worthy, the Holy Ghost will give direction and added light to your learning.”

Ms Cook goes on to compare the parable of the ten virgins to gaining an education.  She said, “You may think it selfish that the five wise virgins did not share their oil, but it was impossible.  Spiritual preparation must be acquired individually, drop by drop, and cannot be shared.  The time is now for you to diligently apply yourselves to increasing your spiritual knowledge – drop by drop – through prayer, scripture study, and obedience.  The time is now to pursue your education – drop by drop.”

We never know what the Lord has planned for us.  We may make our plans, but we will find that they can be changed in an instance.  Thomas S. Monson spoke in a General Relief Society meeting in September of 2004.  He talked about a sister who could not read a word when she joined the Church.  The sisters of her ward took the time and taught her to read.  She then went on to help others to learn how to read and write.

 

The other thing that President Monson taught in that meeting was that if you are prepared, you shall not fear.

President Eyring spoke at the 75^th anniversary of the Institute of Religion program in 2001.  He gave the history of some of the educational opportunities that the saints in the early 1800’s had.  He went on to say: “It is clear that our first priority should go to spiritual learning.  For us, reading the scriptures would come before reading history books.  Prayer would come before memorizing those Spanish verbs.  A temple recommend would be worth more to us than standing first in our graduating class.  But it is also clear that spiritual learning would not replace our drive for secular learning. 

The Lord clearly values what you will find in that history book and in a text on political theory.  Remember His words.  He wants you to know ‘things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly com to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations.’ And further he said, “you remember that His educational charter requires that we have “a knowledge also of counties and of kingdoms.  There is also an endorsement for questions we study in the sciences.  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.”

We as older women in the Church need to have knowledge of these standards as much as the young women.  We have potential to do great things.  This last part applies especially to us as well as the young: “No service that matters can be given over a lifetime by those who stop learning.  A great teacher is always studying.  Our education must never stop.  If it ends at the door of the classroom on graduation day, we will fail.  And since what we will need to know is hard to discern, we need the help of heaven to know which of the myriad things we could study we would most wisely learn.  It also means that we cannot waste time entertaining ourselves when we have the chance to read or to listen to whatever will help us learn what is true and useful.  Insatiable curiosity will be our hallmark.”

As to our busyness, President Eyring said “The Lord loves you and watches over you.  He is all-powerful, and He promised you this: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

I would like to close with “The real life we’re preparing for is eternal life.  Secular knowledge has for us eternal significance.  Our conviction is that God, our Heavenly Father, wants us to live the life that He does.  We learn both the spiritual things and the secular things ‘so we may one day create worlds and people and govern them.’  All we can learn that is true while we are in this life will rise with us in the Resurrection.  And all that we can learn will enhance our capacity to serve.    That is a destiny reserved not alone for the brilliant, those who learn the most quickly, or those who enter the most respected professions.  It will be given to those who are humbly good, who love God, and who serve Him with all their capacities, however limited those capacities are – as are all our capacities, compared with the capacities of God.”  President Eyring.

A Mighty Change of Heart

What does this mean, a mighty change of heart?  Is it when you go to the hospital and replace your heart with another one?  Or are we talking figuratively?  What will a mighty change of heart do for us?  How do we go about getting a mighty change of heart?  Do we only need to do this once in our lives?  These are some of the questions that I will attempt to answer this morning.

A mighty change of heart.  This implies that something needs to change.  Could it be that our thinking processes need to change?  or, is it the way we feel about life?  Aren't we okay as we are?

Many of the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are converts.  We obviously thought that there was more to life than what our parents and those around us taught us.  We wanted to be closer to God and have God in our lives the same way that the prophets of Old Testament times and the apostles of New Testament times did.  They gave us examples that most people thought impossible to live because technology had gone much further than the prophets and apostles lived with.  We have more free time because our work days are now 35 to 40 hours long instead of from when the sun rises to when the sun sets.  We have more wealth than our ancestors who struggled to feed and clothe their families.  We can travel faster and farther in a day than our ancestors with either their horses or their own two feet.  Yes, our lives have more efficient tools, more education, and more recreation than our ancestors ever dreamed of.  We have a tendency to spoil our children by giving them almost everything they want. And, when we do this, we wonder why they don't appreciate the sacrifices that we make for them.

Do we ever think to thank Heavenly Father for the blessings of being born into the world at this time?  We know that because of the way we've grow up, we would find day to day living very hard if we were suddenly transported back in time to 200 years ago.  Some of us would find it difficult to live the way life was even just 50 years ago.  We depend on all the conveniences that we have acquired over the years.  I admit that I am extremely hooked on my laptop and being able to find the information that I want on the internet.  I seriously think that I wouldn't know what to do with myself without the internet.

So, back to the mighty change in heart.  As I mentioned earlier, we chose to join this Church because we saw that we had the opportunity of living a life that is close to Heavenly Father and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  We were baptised and expected to feel differently right away.  We learned that we need to learn line upon line, precept upon precept.  We grew to our present level of understanding bit by bit.  We should be continuing to learn until the day we go home to Heavenly Father.

When I mentioned that we are converts, I think about the conversion process.  We had to learn the First Principles of the Gospel before we could make any informed decision about whether we wanted any part of it.  The missionaries that taught us gave us the information that we required.  We had to learn about the worldly sacrifices that we needed to make.  We felt that the Church was important enough to make these sacrifices.  We learned about the temporal laws.  We agreed with the principles because we may have previously come across them in the scriptures and questioned why did our parents not follow them.  We knew that we needed the Church and its teachings in our lives in order to live the life that we wanted.

Then came the day when we actually joined the Church, the day of our baptism.  We began to follow what the scriptures had been teaching us that our world was not following.  We began our conversion process.  We began to have a "Mighty Change of Heart".  We began to live a life that was in accordance with the teachings of the prophets and apostles. 

We also learned that there was more to the "Mighty Change of Heart".  We began to change our attitudes with regards to the spiritual laws, and repent of the things that we had been doing which we shouldn't be doing.  We had learned right from wrong while growing up, but also learned about the different shades of gray.  If it's right, it's right.  If it's wrong, it's wrong.  We needed to learn to have this in our lives.  Most of us still have some problems with this and how to cope with it.  This is where repentance comes in.  Because we are striving to become a God-like people, when we make a mistake, we begin to feel like we can't do it.  We are supposed to be good.  But our Saviour has told us that He will help us.  All that he expects of us is that we do our best.  Not our second best, but our best.  He will help us to succeed.  All we need to do in return is do our best, and realize that He is helping us and to be grateful that we have the help that we need.  This is the way that we become converted.

In 2013, I went to see the movie "Les Miserables" with a friend.  At the beginning of this movie, one of the main characters, Jean Valjean, had been convicted for stealing a loaf of bread because his nephew was starving.  He ended up serving time for 19 years and turned into a very bitter man.  Upon his release, his paperwork stated that he was dangerous and not to be trusted.  Near the beginning of the movie, Jean Valjean experienced prejudice against him because of the notations on his paperwork and was blessed to be able to spend the night in a religious institution.  He repaid the hospitality given him by stealing the silver.  When Jean Valjean was caught and taken back to the church, the priest told the officials that he had given Jean the silver and added two more pieces to the things already taken.  Jean was set free.  The priest gave him the silver on the condition that he make something of his life.

Because Jean was given a chance to improve his life by the priest, he felt obligated to do so.  He raised money from the silver and kept a couple pieces for a reminder.  He used the money wisely, and helped others so that they would not end up in the same circumstances that he found himself in at the beginning of the movie.

In this story, we can relate it to the Gospel.  Jean had sinned when he had stolen the bread.  At the time, he had thought that he would not have to worry about such a little matter, but the punishment lasted years.  When we sin against God and our fellow man, we could be paying for it throughout eternity.  For God cannot have any unclean thing in His presence.  The little things are the things that will condemn many of us.  This list includes dishonest, selfishness, pride, anger, impure thoughts, and disobedience among other things.

When the priest supported Jean Valjean in his claim that he was given the silver, it made Jean think.  It made him realize just what he was doing.  It made him realize what kind of life that he was about to embark on after being in prison for so long.  And it also made him realize why he was doing this.  Jean had hated the situation that put him into prison.  Even more, he hated the guards and the system that he thought condemned him by blowing the situation out of context and forcing him into a life that he did not want to live.  The silver gave him a chance to think about what to do.  He changed his name and destroyed the paperwork that was destroying any chance of an honest life. 

When Jesus Christ worked out the Atonement for us in Gethsemane, He gave us the chance to have the type of life that we look forward to for the eternities.  He gave us the chance to return to our Father in Heaven.  The only thing that he requires from us is that we accept Him as our Saviour, take His name upon us and obey His commandments.  He has given us the chance to think about our eternal lives and how we want to live them.  He has given us the opportunity to take a look at the direction that our lives were taking without the Gospel and why we were doing what we were doing.  The Atonement that Christ provided for us gives us the opportunity to change the direction that our mortal lives are going so that we will be able to live the eternal life that we want.

When Jean Valjean made his decision to use the silver in the way that the priest wanted him to use it, it changed his outlook on life.  He became a man who sought to help others, to care about the conditions that they were forced to live in, and to deal with those he helped with fairness.  He had a "Mighty Change of Heart".  He took his hatred and changed it into something that would benefit not only himself but others, too.

When we were baptised and confirmed members of the Church, we started on the road to increasing our faith and developing our testimonies.  We changed our lives so that not only we benefited from the change, but others also benefited through the service that we perform.  Those of us who learned to give service to help others rather than what we would gain from it also experienced a "Mighty Change of Heart".

Should we only experience one "Mighty Change of Heart"?  Did Jean Valjean experience only one "Mighty Change of Heart"?  The answer to both questions is no.

Jean Valjean became concerned and distracted when it looked like his past caught up to him.  He thought that the police official was in his office to arrest him.  However, the official did not fully recognize him until Jean helped free a man who had been trapped under his wagon.  Jean learned that a vagrant had been arrested and accused of being Jean Valjean and was about to be sent to prison for failing to keep his probation.  Jean worried about the situation, because if he gave himself up, his employees would lose their jobs and their incomes, but if he didn't, the man would lose his life.  Jean wanted the truth to come out, not only about the life that he was leading but also about the length of time that he served for what he thought was a small matter.

During this time of distraction, one of his employees was let go because she wanted to keep her modesty.  Because she was let go, she ended up in a situation that was not good.  She had a daughter whose life was at stake and she tried to make good choices but was finally convinced to make a bad choice, one that she paid for with her life.  Jean tried to rectify the problem by providing medical care and then promised her that he would look after her daughter.  Only when Jean took guardianship of the girl, did he learn to love.  He developed this love because the girl was dependent on him for love and support.  Jean had another "Mighty Change of Heart".  He learned to love.

As we go through our lives, we have the things that we need to sustain us.  We have the Gospel in our lives.  But do we live the Gospel fully?  Have we learned to love as the Saviour loves us?  Do we go out of our way to help others that desperately need our help?  Do we pray, study our scriptures, attend our meetings, and do all the things that the prophets have taught us?  Do we honestly try to become more Christ-like?

We are taught that we must endure to the end.  If we do not progress in our learning after our baptism and confirmation, are we enduring to the end?  The Gospel has principles that we need to learn about and to learn to incorporate into our lives.  These principles will replace the principles that Satan would have us follow.  These principles will teach us to love not only Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but each other as well. 

It may be hard to learn the things that we need to learn, but we have the time.  The best way to learn is "line upon line and precept upon precept".  We will not be able to master all of the principles at the same time.  This learning will take time.  That is why we have been given this time for our mortal lives.  This is where we can make our mistakes.

Because we have been baptised does not mean that we cannot sin.  We are not a perfect people, yet.  We will still make our mistakes and we will still commit sins.  However, we have been given a gift through the Atonement.  We have the opportunity to repent when we make our mistakes and commit our sins.  We have the opportunity of confessing our sins to the Lord and others if necessary and redressing the wrong that we have done to others, by restitution if possible.  Often, we will remember what we have done.  The scriptures do not teach us that we will forget our sins, but they teach us that the Lord will forget our sins if we repent.  Sometimes, the Lord will have us remember what we have done so that we learn to avoid doing it again.  Once we have learned our lesson, the memory will fade.

As we increase our faith in Jesus Christ, we learn to accept His will.  We learn to trust that the Lord knows what is good for us and what we need to help us to grow spiritually.  We may think that we do, but as time passes by, we realize that we know nothing of the kind.  Life was not meant to be easy.  We often learn the most when we have challenges to overcome.  It is our challenges that help us grow and develop in the way that we are meant to develop.  If we use these challenges in a positive way, we will grow closer to the Lord.  Rather than thinking of them as challenges, we can think of them as opportunities.  As we grow closer to the Lord, our hearts will change in ways that will be phenomenal.  Only as we look back on our lives will we be able to see how far we have come.  Only the Lord knows how far we need to go yet.

If we will follow the Lord and do his will, we will be blessed and our children and posterity will also be blessed.  We will become humble, confident, eager to please God, grow in the capacity of love for Christ, others and ourselves, and become a Christ-like people.  We will have more "Mighty Changes in Heart" throughout our lives as we do the things that we should be doing in the manner and attitude that we need to have.  After all, once in the Celestial Kingdom, we will have great works to do.  We need to prepare for the eternities by following the Gospel in our mortal lives.

Let us let the Lord perform the operation of replacing our hearts of stone for hearts of flesh.  Let us keep our hearts of flesh healthy by assessing them periodically to be sure that we are on the right path and that we continue to grow in the Gospel and in the love of Christ.  Let us endure to the end so that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

Will we be like Jean Valjean and have numerous "Mighty Changes of Heart" as we live our mortal lives or will we not grow but stagnate instead?