Wednesday was Hump Day at Education Week! I was already feeling a little twinge of regret that the week was slipping by so quickly.
Wednesdays classes were great. This is only my second Education Week (I attended many symposiums as a seminary teacher and many womens conferences) so many of the speakers are unfamiliar to me. I always enjoy hearing other attendees describe their Education Week strategy: how they select the classes and instructors, how they map quest their routes around campus. The delightful thing about Education Week is that you dont have to follow in anyone elses footsteps. You can make your path! (Much like life, I suppose.)
Wednesday started out with some very useful information from Randal Wright. I really enjoy his presentation style. He shared five ideas to get motivated about your life and mission. When he presented the second idea, I knew it was directed at me. He talked about the blessings of inspiration and the best way to get and keep the spirit is to go to bed early and get up early. Certainly not rocket science and I was curious where he was going with this line of reasoning! He shared several familiar scriptures (D&C 88:124) and then some that were not so familiar. He gave a powerful example of Christ who is our supreme example of this principle(Mark 1:32-35). Basically, he taught that there is danger in sleeping longer than our spirits and physical bodies need because we will miss out on some of the most important personal inspiration we could be receiving.
He also suggested we continually ask ourselves this question as we navigate our way through mortality: What will I leave behind? He reminded us of what Joseph Smith left behind, and Brigham Young. This question permeated my thoughts the rest of the day and I was surprised at how thinking about it affected even the smallest things I did throughout the day.
Brother Williams class was again full of wonderful Book of Mormon insights — today it was about King Benjamins address. He shared a humorous thought about how we are indebted to God and we are all carrying oxygen tanks around! At any time, Heavenly Father could pull the plug. He could say, O.K., folks, everyone out of the pool. Every day we spend here on earth is an opportunity to demonstrate our gratitude to Him by our actions and choices and striving to put off the natural man.
A quote by Elder Maxwell summed up his class: Our spiritual mobility is determined by how much we can jettison including the putting off of sumo-sized natural man tendencies.
The day ended with a great meal at Brick Oven. My husband always has a hard time going there whenever we come to Provo. When we were here 30 years ago at school, it was dark and there were juke boxes at each booth. Times have changed. But the pizza and garlic bread are still great!
(Lisa Olsen is from Redding, Calif. She has been married for 32 years and has four children and one granddaughter. She is a professional educator and is currently serving as an institute teacher and Primary music leader in Redding.)