6.30.2013

Choir Notes


A Lifetime of Learning 
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4370

With great excitement, a woman nearly 90 years old smiles at her grandson as he installs a new computer in her home. “Now I can get emails and pictures over the Internet,” she says, so happy to learn about technology that could help her stay in touch with loved ones.

Elsewhere, an elderly man sits quietly in his favorite chair. He has just finished a fascinating book and is thinking about what it means to him and what thoughts he will share with his friends when they meet to discuss their latest reading.

Another woman, a grandmother of many, makes her way every week to a class on Italian literature. She is by far the oldest in the class but still eager to learn.
As these examples show, we are never too old to learn. The world around us holds enough surprises, enough new insights, and ample sources of new information to keep all of us busy for a lifetime. We call this the “information age,” but age should never limit our desire to expand our knowledge and enrich our minds.
Of course, not all learning is of equal value. A wise man once said, “Some things that are true are not very useful.”1 As information becomes easier to access—but not always easier to understand—the counsel of the ancient Proverb becomes ever more timely: “With all thy getting get understanding.” 2 
Without it, we may be “ever learning, [but] never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”3 The best learning is focused on things of value—things that will inspire and inform us and allow us to uplift others.

Newspapers, books, scriptures, websites, television programs, and magazines can all be great sources of learning. Formal classes offered at a school, informal conversations with a knowledgeable expert, and independent searching can all yield hidden treasures of knowledge. No matter where we are in life, to keep seeking and learning and questioning and sharing will lead to a life well lived.

1  Boyd K. Packer, “The Mantle Is Far, Far Greater than the Intellect” (Church Educational System religious educators symposium, 1981), 4.
2 Proverbs 4:7.
3 2 Timothy 3:7.

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