Learning to Learn

As I was reading in The Book of Mormon this morning, I just had this overwhelming feeling of love for this book. I know that it is true. I am so grateful for its contents. I was reading a few of my favorite chapters this morning at the end of 2 Nephi (specifically chapter 29 to the end of 31). A few of the verses scattered throughout these chapters have really helped me to answer a question that’s been on my mind this last week.

As I’m preparing for school, I’ve become overwhelmed with the thought of how much improvement I need to make in my life. Not only professionally, but religiously and exercise-ishly as well. Sometimes I want to take on too much at one time and want to know everything and be perfect at EVERYTHING as well. That is just not how life works. And thinking that way severely overwhelms me to the point of not knowing where to start and THUS not starting anything! It’s really frustrating.

Like I said, I’ve been thinking about how to study better and how exactly to go about improving myself. The following are a few verses I read this morning that I felt helped me to see that learning comes little by little.

2 Nephi 28:30 “For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.”

This scriptures reminds me that if I am desiring to learn and striving to learn, I will learn. I most likely will not gain knowledge all at once, but I will gain knowledge little by little. We can’t possibly learn everything all at once. Our brains would explode and we wouldn’t know how to comprehend it. As a teacher, I KNOW that learning happens when you build upon previous knowledge slowly but surely. I need to apply this to my life. Additionally, I need to remember to prioritize my life so that Heavenly Father is first!

Another scripture I feel relates to this same idea is in 2 Nephi 31:3 – “For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto men according to their language, unto their understanding.”

I truly take comfort in the fact that Heavenly Father knows how I learn. He knows me and he provides learning opportunities for me in SIMPLE ways according to my understanding and knowledge. WOW! That is such a powerful concept. Heavenly Father truly is a master teacher, because he uses the ultimate guidelines to teach us in SIMPLE ways. He delights in plainness. He is NOT out to confuse us or taunt us with vast knowledge we cannot understand. However, he will provide ways for us to improve so that we can attain that vast knowledge over time and according to the style in which we learn best. Thank you Heavenly Father!

While all of this didn’t answer my question directly, I do feel like I need to make my learning more focused and more consistent. If I don’t act like learning is a priority in my life, it won’t be! I need to delineate time for learning, both secularly and spiritually, in order to improve my life.

Attitudes of Gratitude

I was thinking today how grateful I am to be a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. No matter what happens during my week, every Sunday I look forward to attending church. I love Sundays! I love how I get time to be at peace with myself and my life. I get time to forget about the pressing demands of the world and to focus on my Savior. I have time on Sunday to reevaluate my life in order to improve for the coming week. Sunday is such a great day to fill my spiritual reservoir, to remind me of what life’s all about, and to just help me to chill out. Today, thankfully, was no different.

Lately, life has been a little stressful with preparing for an entirely new teaching position as well as getting ready for my little sister’s wedding this week. Needless to say, tensions have been high around my house! It was such a relief to be able to go to church with my family and just enjoy feeling of Heavenly Father’s spirit. I actually went to church twice: once with my family and then once with my boyfriend to our normal church congregation. I feel like I gained MUCH needed spiritual insight today. I had been praying in my heart all week about ways to overcome some current issues. I felt like I received answers to those prayers today at church. I am incredibly blessed to be able to attend our church and feel of God’s love and peace for me. Additionally, I know that attending church also helps Evan to search for ways to improve himself as well. All in all, I want to say that I know that our church is true. There are many Christian denominations that have SO much truth, wisdom, and love… they’re just missing a few key pieces. I’m thankful for the knowledge I have that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I’m thankful for a God that blesses me in ways I cannot foretell nor imagine. I know that it is through His Spirit that I am able to gain a testimony of these truths.

Lift and Be Lifted

We cannot expect to lift others unless we stand on higher ground ourselves.
— Gordon B. Hinckley

Recently, I’ve been reading my Book of Mormon in German so that I can keep up on my German for my upcoming teaching job.

As I was reading it this afternoon, somehow the wording of the language helped me to see Lehi’s dream of the tree of life a little differently. Lehi first describes himself as walking up to the tree of life and eating the fruit. Next, he notices his family (with the exception of Laman and Lemuel) and he describes them as not knowing where they should go. After having experienced the joy felt from partaking worthily of the fruit, he sees them and beckons to them to come and partake also. He guides them to the iron rod and helps them to get to the tree of life.

For some reason this really hit me today because it’s so analogous to our lives. We’re all on our own journeys through life, yet we sometimes aren’t sure of the way. Fortunately, we are blessed with family, friends, and religious leaders who can sometimes see more clearly than we do.

Similarly, we also can provide that guidance for others as well. Once you’ve tasted of the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ, you want to help others to feel that same joy as well.

It just reminded me of how we need to guide and support others through life, just as we need to be humble enough to accept that same assistance in return.

Pride is NOT a Virtue

I’d like to think of myself as a non-judgmental person, humble person. Before yesterday, I had never considered myself to be self-righteous or preachy. However, if it quacks like a duck, flies like a duck, and–heaven forbid–looks like a duck, you probably wouldn’t call it a cow. I am a duck.

This is how the story goes. Yesterday I was minding my business studying my scriptures in German before church when I decided to go downstairs and see what the fam was up to. On my way down, I encountered my sister’s children playing games and feeding their pets on a kids’ online site called Webkinz. A Sunday rule for the kids is no internet usage. I reminded them of this rule and prompted them to come downstairs and play games with me instead. They conceded. Now, this situation did not bother me.

What bothered me was what happened when I was on my way downstairs. I saw the kids’ parents both on the internet. I know this isn’t a big deal, but for some reason it just really bothered me that I was trying to help them keep their rule, while they were not even keeping it themselves. Can anyone say double standard? Needless to say, I was irritated. However, rather than being tactful, I judged them and said it aloud. I was angry and I wanted them to “keep the Sabbath daily holy” in the way I thought they should.

It wasn’t until later, after getting frustrated with my boyfriend for the same thing, that I realized I have become what I’ve always hated. I had been self-righteous and acting out of pride. Sure, I think that I’m right. I think it’s more important to spend the day worshipping Heavenly Father in a way other than perusing the internet. But, that’s what I think. That only applies to me. I do not wish to take away anyone’s right to choice, but that’s how I was acting yesterday.

As Evan and I were driving to church and the true nature of how I had been acting came to my mind, I was shamed for the pride I had shown. How dare I think that I’m better than someone else because of a mundane and immaterial choice in Sabbath day pursuits?

Needless to say, I now see that I must be on my guard at all times in order to beware of pride in all of its forms. I am not better than those of the Nephites and the Lamanites who were prideful. Pride led to their downfall time and again. I do not wish for this same occurrence in my life.

I know I am not better than anyone else. I have much to learn about life and the ways being kind and humble.

Reading 1 Nephi 17

Today I read in 1 Nephi 17. I had a few thoughts about this chapter as I was reading it. First off, the faith of Nephi is amazing! When Heavenly Father commands it, he does it without question. Because of his knowledge of the scriptures, he takes faith in Moses and others. He knows the scriptures and has applied them to himself. I know that Nephi isn’t perfect, but his faith is a perfect pattern for us to follow.

On the flipside, Laman and Lemuel are “swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord” (1 Nephi 17:45). They are incredibly prideful. They can’t listen to their younger brother based on the principle that he is younger than they are. Rather than listen humbly when he rebukes them, they instead become severely angry to point of wanting to kill him. Don’t they realize at this point that without Nephi, they can’t get anywhere? Don’t they see that they most likely couldn’t make it back to Jerusalem if they tried? I don’t know why they continue to defy the Lord and His commandments. It’s probably the ease of the way. For them, it’s MUCH easier to just do what comes naturally rather than to love and help and support. Faith is hard, and they are not willing to pay the price to continue their faith. Sadly, they allow Satan to rule their lives rather than making a choice for themselves.

All of this truly makes me wonder how I would respond if I were in this situation. Would I give up? Would I believe that the Lord had told Nephi to build a ship in order to cross the ocean? It would be fairly hard to believe. But, hopefully, I would have faith enough or the sense enough to pray—as Nephi did—to ask Heavenly Father the truth of what was said.

Reading 1 Nephi 15:26-17:1

Today I read in 1 Nephi 15:26-17:1. As I was reading through, I was impressed by the fact that Laman and Lemuel humbled themselves and repented several times throughout the chapter. This made me realize that the real difference between Laman and Lemuel and Nephi is the fact that they gave up and succumbed to having a bad attitude. They did not choose to endure to the end. Even as I was reading through, I also noticed that Laman and Lemuel were not without knowledge. They had the same knowledge and opportunities as Nephi did. However, they CHOSE to go against that knowledge. They were lazy, had a bad attitude, and did not continue to endure to the end. It takes a lot to make it through this life and stay true to the gospel of Jesus Christ! They had what it took to do it, they just didn’t want it badly enough. Thus, they succumbed to the temptations of Satan rather than choose the harder, better path.

What this helps me to realize in my life is that I also make mistakes. It’s important to see that learning is life-long. Just because one humbles his or herself once, does not mean that is enough. Constantly we need to be learning from the situations in which Heavenly Father puts us. I want to be like Nephi. I want to stay strong. I want to repent of my mistakes and change them to improve myself and those around me. I want to have a positive outlook in the face of adversity.