August means the beginning of a new school year for my children. This year, my wife and I have four children in three different schools. The youngest two daughters have little say in what subjects their teachers teach in their elementary school. Their older sister has more flexibility in choosing some of her classes. And our oldest, a son, has the most flexibility in selecting his classes.
Unironically, the youngest wish they could choose more of what they do and study while at school. And the older two sometimes struggle with all the choices in front of them. They might have too many choices. Or the class they want might be unavailable to them for one reason or another.
At BYU Education Week, Aug. 19-23 on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles introduced a new concept to me when he spoke in his keynote devotional on Tuesday, Aug. 20. He was teaching about agency and desire. He invited those in the packed Marriott Center to ask themselves what righteous desires they have. Then he asked a question I had to think about.
“How are you educating your righteous desires?” Elder Andersen asked.
This was very different than my recent questions of my children. Are you going to stick with the saxophone? Did you make time for seminary? Are you taking Spanish classes? Is that going to help you in college? Do you want to take that class, or do your friends want you to take that class?
But Elder Andersen was seeing this matter from a different level. The school and classroom he talked about were that of mortality and an end goal of becoming like Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
The challenges we face as individuals in this life give us an opportunity to choose to turn toward our loving Heavenly Father or not. With patience and persistence, we can understand His will for us better, Elder Andersen explained.
“Step by step, year by year, through His grace and our will, our desires become one with His,” he said.
Perhaps my children don’t choose the exact classes I wish they would or think they should. I can see a lot of potential in them. I can see how they would benefit from one class over another. But my wife and I (for the most part) let them choose.
Perhaps Heavenly Father does the same with us. He sees our true potential. He knows that one choice would be more beneficial to us than another. But He allows us to choose.
Our oldest daughter serves in her school’s student government. So one class period is already spoken for. She made that commitment and looks forward to honoring it throughout the year.
Similarly, we make commitments that may seem to subsequently limit our choices. We make covenants with Heavenly Father and promise to do or not do certain things in this lifetime.
Quoting the late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Elder Andersen said, “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar.”
When we know what we want to become, we continuously make choices that lead us toward that outcome. Elder Andersen teaching about how to educate righteous desires means to me that I have made a commitment about who I want to become and that I need to discipline myself in different areas to achieve that goal.
While I’m not going to school and registering for classes like my children are at this stage in their lives, I can set an example for them of how to make good choices and how to educate my righteous desires and become whatever Heavenly Father wants me to be. And they can do likewise — both in the classrooms of their school buildings and in the classroom of life.
— Jon Ryan Jensen is editor of the Church News.
