Being Great!

I really enjoyed President Hinckley's devotional last week (9-18) and I thought I might share a few of my reflections from his address.

President Hinckley shared a quote from Erik Weihenmayer to start his talk that I found to be inspirational, and foundational for his speech: "Greatness has little to do with talent, it's based on hard work." I am not sure if that's entirely true, but it does seem to ring true with how people learn. Many students in both higher education and K-12 environments seem to be conditioned to chase the letter grade, rather than actual learning; they feel that learning is staying up late, cramming for an exam/ finishing a project, and getting a passing grade. While this might be necessary (on some occasions), I feel real learning occurs when a student takes responsibility for their learning, is consistent with his/ her studies (volia: hard work), and thirsts for knowledge because he/ she yearns to improve who they are. Such motivation and hard work will consequently help the student develop a talent (or talents) in the area he/ she is studying. A perfect example would be programming. Although there are some who seem to easily understand this area of study, others who invest time, and truly want to understand, and dutifully work day in and day out will/ can eventually develop a talent in that area, and will ultimately have the potential to achieve greatness. Note, the greatness in this example resulted from acquiring and developing a talent based on hard work.

President Hinckley then proceeded to share and highlight a few key points from the 13th Article of Faith, which he used as an invitation and exhortation to being better:

"We believe in being ^bhonest, true, ^cchaste, ^dbenevolent, virtuous, and in doing ^egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we ^fhope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to ^gendure all things. If there is anything ^hvirtuous, ⁱlovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."

President Hinckley reminded us to, "be honest..., be true, stand tall for the world, and honor God... be chaste..., be benevolent, meaning: reach out to others; do good for others. Be virtuous - have the strength to do whatever has need of doing. Do good to all men - reach out in forgiveness to all men; have love and mercy for all - it's the founding principle of relationships.

Finally, he concluded with a short message of comfort, reminding us that there will be more triumphs in life than failures as we try and live these principles of hard work, honestly, chastity, benevolence, virtue, and in doing good to all men.

I for one know that I could lengthen my stride in all these areas, hence the reason I was very impressed and grateful for these wise words of wisdom from President Hinckley.