Sometimes, students may become discouraged or bored with their schoolwork. They might lose interest or the vision they had for their future when they first started. Similarly, this can happen in a spiritual sense. Our testimonies can start to wane. That spark starts to die out. How can we see the grand scheme of things? How do our choices now effect our future?
Today’s BYU-Idaho devotional speaker was Dallin Hansen, a member of the Music Department faculty at the university. His talk was titled, “Seeking the Higher View,” which sums up his main point nicely. Students must seek for a greater perspective, an eternal perspective, on their education.
“The time that you have as a full-time college student is so precious, and it only comes for most people once in their lifetime,” Hansen said in an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio.
We as people who are seeking education need to use this time set aside to learn. Hansen says the university learning experience isn’t as simple as being taught something.
“It should be a place where we are encouraged to grow and change, question our paradigms… the way we think about things, look at other’s perspectives to help us to grow in the way we see the world. It’s a metamorphosis experience rather than just coming and choosing what you want cafeteria-style,” Hansen said.
In his devotional, he warned against separating the academic from the spiritual.
“Pursuing excellence in both intellectual and spiritual areas constitute the same goal. Remember all things are spiritual to the Lord; in the eternal scheme, there is no distinction. Just as the spirit and the body are the soul of man, all learning can educate our whole: body, mind, and spirit,” Hansen said.