The last couple of weeks, I have heard a lot about being a scholar--that it's different than being a student, and that you will be expected to be a scholar in any graduate program you study in. It's a bit of a shift for me because I have been used to being the student. I'm used to fulfilling the requirements of the class, and while I've enjoyed that, I have done little outside of the what a class requires.
Now, I have heard numerous times that to be a scholar means that you an inquire--you ask questions and find answers to those questions. Classes are merely a starting point and teach the means to find the answers to your questions. It's all interesting, and I'm getting used to that mindset. It's stressful, but there are plenty of times in working professionally that I've had to do ask questions and find their answers. It's obviously different, but I hope that experience has prepared me a little for what lies ahead (at least that's what I tell myself when I need a little bit of confidence).
I've also had a lot of people ask why I'm going back to school and wonder why I'm getting a masters degree when I just want to go back into the same industry I was working in before. Besides feeling like it will help me in furthering that career, a lot of people don't understand coming back to school for the sake of learning, which is definitely part of going back to school.
One of the great things about going back to BYU is incorporating the gospel into academic studies. I don't know that I've appreciated a prayer at the beginning of class as much as I have in one of my classes that begins each session with a prayer. I'm not used to bringing religion to the forefront so openly as is possible only at BYU.
In my program orientation just before school started, our graduate adviser shared this quote with us from Neal A. Maxwell: "For a disciple of Jesus Christ, academic scholarship is a form of worship. It is actually another dimension of consecration. Hence one who seeks to be a disciple-scholar will take both scholarship and discipleship seriously; and, likewise, gospel covenants. For the disciple-scholar, the first and second great commandments frame and prioritize life. How else could one worship God with all of one's heart, might, mind, and strength?" (from On Becoming a Gospel Scholar)
I love this. I love that our religion doesn't think religious devotion and scholarly studies are mutually exclusive. They can coexist and do coexist as a form of worship as we seek to know the great things of God. So thank you, Elder Maxwell, for justifying my decision to go back to school, even if it doesn't guarantee I will increase my earning potential or don't go on to get a PhD.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 05, 2009
The Future is As Bright As Your Faith
In the past couple of weeks, I have changed just about every aspect of my life: I've moved to a new place, moved in with girls I didn't know previously, switched wards, quit my full-time job, started a new part-time job, and started attending school again full-time for the first time in over seven years. For someone who thrives on stability and serenity, it's been quite the uprooting, and today it has me pensive.
Venturing into the unknown is a little difficult for me, and it may not seem like much to some, but to change so many aspects of my life all at once was a challenge for me. Starting graduate school has been over a year in the making, and walking around campus now is a little surreal for me for a couple of reasons. One is because it has taken some time and preparation to get here, and the other is because I remember what it was like as an undergraduate to be here, and I feel like I'm not the same person who walked that campus back then. Many people seem so young to me, and I wonder whether I fit into that scene that was once my comfort and stability a few years ago. I wonder if it matters if I do. It's taking some adjustment to dive into the world of academe where they expect us to be scholars and not just students, and hoping I live up to what the professors seem to think I am very capable of doing.
I like to have a plan for where I'm going, and having a pretty unknown future (except for the next couple of years) have me feeling like a new freshman again in some ways. As is so often the case, I was reminded of one of my favorite General Conference talks of all time recently, "An High Priest of Good Things to Come" by Elder Holland. His story at the end struck me differently this time because while his family circumstances were very different than mine, I find myself venturing off to school once again, and I can relate to attempting to look to the future, not really knowing what I'll find. His words at the end, "There is help and happiness ahead--a lot of it. . . . Trust God and believe in good things to come," once again remind me that Christ is our high priest of good things to come--in so many ways.
Similarly, the words of President Monson have been on my mind a lot lately: "The future is as bright as your faith." God can perform miracles in our lives, and is willing to, as long as our faith remains firm. It's nice to know the Lord is there for us, even if our worries are minuscule compared to so many others. It's a great comfort to me, at least. So there you have my musings of today.
Venturing into the unknown is a little difficult for me, and it may not seem like much to some, but to change so many aspects of my life all at once was a challenge for me. Starting graduate school has been over a year in the making, and walking around campus now is a little surreal for me for a couple of reasons. One is because it has taken some time and preparation to get here, and the other is because I remember what it was like as an undergraduate to be here, and I feel like I'm not the same person who walked that campus back then. Many people seem so young to me, and I wonder whether I fit into that scene that was once my comfort and stability a few years ago. I wonder if it matters if I do. It's taking some adjustment to dive into the world of academe where they expect us to be scholars and not just students, and hoping I live up to what the professors seem to think I am very capable of doing.
I like to have a plan for where I'm going, and having a pretty unknown future (except for the next couple of years) have me feeling like a new freshman again in some ways. As is so often the case, I was reminded of one of my favorite General Conference talks of all time recently, "An High Priest of Good Things to Come" by Elder Holland. His story at the end struck me differently this time because while his family circumstances were very different than mine, I find myself venturing off to school once again, and I can relate to attempting to look to the future, not really knowing what I'll find. His words at the end, "There is help and happiness ahead--a lot of it. . . . Trust God and believe in good things to come," once again remind me that Christ is our high priest of good things to come--in so many ways.
Similarly, the words of President Monson have been on my mind a lot lately: "The future is as bright as your faith." God can perform miracles in our lives, and is willing to, as long as our faith remains firm. It's nice to know the Lord is there for us, even if our worries are minuscule compared to so many others. It's a great comfort to me, at least. So there you have my musings of today.
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