Thinking...

""For members of the Church, education is not merely a good idea—it's a commandment. We are to learn 'of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad' (see D&C 88:79–80)."

- Pres. Dieter F Uchtdorf

I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of education and university.  In taking education I rarely have to take classes outside of my program because I did a lot of them before I moved to the U of A. Some classes that I have been scared to death to take because they are not my strong points have been math and science.  Math I ended up doing in the summer semester and aced that sucker because I got help every day from my professor, who I am in gratitude for, for his patience and understanding.  Science I have had to take this term and at first I grumbled and complained A LOT about it.  "Why do I have to take this stupid class?!  It isn't even going to help me... who needs to know the university level of bio, chem, physics when you are teaching elementary basics!"

I was being very ungrateful in which I am ashamed to admit now.  The class I ended up taking is called Environmental Nature and Conservation Science or something really long, and we started off talking about evolution and where we came from... Monkeys of course because of the view the author of our text has and I was disappointed.  I have come to learn that education at a university level is wonderful when it is paired with the gospel standards because then we cannot be led astray by mens' thinking and what they believe to know.  But in sitting down and actually studying my textbook and looking past some of the silly things this author says he made some very vital points which have taught me so much not for being a teacher but the urgency and importance of listening to the prophet.

Did you know at an alarming rate we are destroying the world with our desire for instant gratification through technology... yes this means having the latest greatest laptop, cell phone, flat screen tv, and so on.  I am not going to lie both J and I fall into this category but we are destroying our planet at an increasing rate.  We don't see the affects of our waste of this technology or even if you recycle it because much of it is being sent to China to be recycled and reused for pieces but the process in getting these precious parts has led them to lose their valuable water supply and have to rely on water being imported in.  This is just one of the many examples I have learned about.  But the reason I bring this up is because we have been warned by prophets of old and modern day prophets that before the second coming the world will see war, pestilence, famine, and so on.  And now is where my beautiful AHA moment! or smack in the face of why education is increasingly important comes in.

Many scientists who have studied the earth are warning civilizations that if we do not "think green" and start to try to sustain our environment we are going to lose it through pestilence, war, and famine.  Interesting don't you think that men who have a wonderful education background who spend their lives studying about the environment are heeding the same warnings the prophets are.  It just has gone to show me that Heavenly Father loves his people soooo much that He is willing to warn us years before a disaster hits what is going to happen.  Now there will be some who will disagree with this post and call me a tree hugger saying that isn't the reason the second coming will happen but I truthfully believe we are what we make ourselves to be.  I have such a strong strong testimony of getting an education and going as far as you can go with it.

As I told people that I was going to university to become a teacher I mostly got excitement but also some chastisement.  Some believed that because I was getting married that my diploma should suffice and I should focus more of my time on preparing to be a mother and establishing my home.  I am not going to bash your opinions but I can testify now more than ever before the importance of an education.  I know that my children will be better off because of the time I took to pursue an education.  Many times when we have the missionaries over for dinner now they have made comments about how women do not need more than a college education and this is more than ever where I am going to be stubborn and say to any girl out there.  Get your education, take what you can and run.  We live in such a beautiful beautiful place and it is so so so important when we have the blessings so easily and readily available to us to fully utilize them.  I know it seems so long at the beginning but I know the closer I have gotten to my goal of becoming a teacher the more gratitude and love I have for our Saviour and Heavenly Father.

And really that is my two cents... stepping off my soap box now :)