I Am A Child of God

A blog... I didn't expect to make one of these until I was at least graduated and married with a child on the way. But, due to extenuating circumstances, here I am - a brand new college freshman with a propensity to put the social before the academic. It is a bad habit that I plan to kick to the curb, or at least balance out. My roommate is awesome, she studies and gets all her homework done in a timely manner and I often can't bring myself to break out the books. Fortunately, she 'encouraged' me to read and annotate a talk that had been assigned in my Writing 150 class, and to get it done before I went out for the night. I had a rare moment of rational thought-process and decided she was right, and I read the talk. And then read it again. I have often heard stories about people opening their scriptures to a random page, only to find a passage so applicable to their situations that it could not have been a coincidence. Personally, I had never experienced this type of revelation, until I read the talk entitled, "A Child of God," by President Henry B. Eyring, delivered at BYU in October of 1997.

President Eyring's words touched me and I devoured the talk. I read certain passages over and over, took meticulous notes, and even thought about framing a sentence or two for my dorm room wall. The point that jumped out at me throughout the talk was the importance of education. He states that the five characteristics of a great learner are the ability to welcome correction, they keep commitments, they work hard, they help others, and they expect resistance and are able to overcome it. That is, a great learner realizes that communication, love, strength, and determination are essential for success. I realize that in order to be successful in this new chapter of my life I need to be committed and get my priorities straight. I have been told by my parents and stake president that my education will be one of my greatest tools in life and I have always brushed that counsel aside. However, President Eyring says, "You are under a mandate to pursue--not just while you are here, but throughout your lives--educational excellence." And finally it hit me that, yes, I am here to learn and I am actually excited about it. Of course I was enthusiastic about my classes last week as it was my first week at college and I was experiencing so many new things, but I had already begun to notice the first signs of disinterest and boredom. After reading this talk though, I remembered that I am indeed a child of God, here to fulfill a divine purpose. He provided both the means and the charge to receive a good education and now I finally realize the importance of doing so. It is my responsibility to learn and I have decided that I will. And now I look forward to my classes and actually had a good time studying for my nutrition class yesterday. It was my first time studying at the library-any library-and it was a complete success. This is where I'm supposed to be and I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and I'm not alone. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to read President Eyring's talk and I love that he said, "He will give us no test without preparing the way for us to pass it."