Education for Real Life

This is an amazing talk by Elder Eyring from a CES Fireside. It was published in October 2002 in the Ensign, and I strongly recommend that everyone read and re-read this entire talk. It can be accessed here.

I have taken several quotes from that talk (emphasis added) and put them here:

...That is because the power [of the Lord/the same power that causes the growth of the Church] has its effects inside a person. It happens when a person performs a largely private experiment. It begins as any experiment must, with the conditions being right for the person. Either through external events or by choice, he or she has become humble. That humility has allowed the person to make a place in their lives and hearts for something better.

...The change that comes is a desire to be someone even better, to reach for more light, and to give greater service to others. Those desires always lead to a hunger for education, to learn what is true, what is useful, and what is beautiful.

Let’s start with the purpose. 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.

By prayer, fasting, and hard work, with a motive to serve Him, we can expect His grace to attend us...It means that we will learn more rapidly and grow in skill beyond what we could do only with our unaided natural abilities. I know that from my own experience, as many of you do and as all of you can.

you are interested in education not for 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. In fact, you will work harder at your secular learning than you would without that spiritual vision.

Part of the tragedy that you must avoid is to discover too late that you missed an opportunity to prepare for a future only God could see for you.

Your life is carefully watched over, as was mine. The Lord knows both what He will need you to do and what you will need to know. He is kind and He is all-knowing. So, you can with confidence expect that He has prepared opportunities for you to learn in preparation for the service you will give. You will not recognize those opportunities perfectly, as I did not. But when you put the spiritual things first in your life, you will be blessed to feel directed toward certain learning and you will be motivated to work harder. You will recognize later that your power to serve was increased, and you will be grateful.

Your service may not be in what the world would recognize as a lofty calling. When the real value of service becomes clear in the judgment of God, some people who worked in quiet anonymity will be the real heroes. Many of them, perhaps most of them, will be the underpaid and under-recognized people who nurtured others. ..I never see a mother juggling three little children who are crying while she is smiling, as she shepherds them gently, without seeing in my mind’s eye that day of honor in the presence of the only Judge whose praise will finally matter.

we too often fail to take advantage of the moments we spend waiting. Think of the last time that you sat in a barber shop or a beauty salon or the waiting room of a doctor’s office. It is so easy to spend time thumbing through any magazine that is stacked on a table there. In fact, if you think about it, you will remember how you wondered where they get those old, out-of-date magazines. There is much valuable reading you could do if you took a book with you to fill those islands of time.

You could just have a book and paper and pencil with you. That will be enough. But you need determination to capture the leisure moments you now waste.

God Can Multiply the Effectiveness of Our Time: I realize that there are some, perhaps many, for whom my urging you to capture leisure time cuts like a knife. You feel overwhelmed by the lack of time. You have left unfinished tasks in your Church calling. You’ve carried your scriptures all day but still not found a moment to open them. (This part means so much to me--I don't even take my scriptures to church anymore because Spencer needs me 100% of the time, and my scriptures end up just being something heavy in my bag!)

There is another way to look at your problem of crowded time. You can see it as an opportunity to test your faith. 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" (Matthew 6:33).

That is a true promise. When we put God’s purposes first, He will give us miracles. If we pray to know what He would have us do next, He will multiply the effects of what we do in such a way that time seems to be expanded. He may do it in different ways for each individual, but I know from long experience that He is faithful to His word.

I cannot promise academic success or perfect families. Nor can I tell you the way in which He will honor His promise of adding blessings upon you. But I can promise you that if you will go to Him in prayer and ask what He would have you do next, promising that you will put His kingdom first, He will answer your prayer and He will keep His promise to add upon your head blessings, enough and to spare. Those apparent prison walls of "not enough time" will begin to recede, even as you are called to do more.

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 that we may one day create worlds and people and govern them (see The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, ed. Edward L. Kimball [1982], 386).


Personal Goals:

• Trust that the Lord will help me to expand my time.
• Pray to Him and ask Him what He will have me do next--promise to put His kingdom first.
• Find new ways to take advantage of my quiet moments: great books, talks on tape, online Spanish lessons, etc.
• Build a house of learning--for me and my family
• Do all things with an eye single to the glory of God