Week 01 4-25-19 The Journey I'm On Begins

This week I started my Intro to Entrepreneurship class.  I am supposed to start a blog in order to record my reflections on the things I learn each week. I wish I had done this as I was doing the reading for this week because there are a ton of quotes and talks I want to remember.  I am also taking Intro to Social Media Marketing and this week a lot of the information was similar and played off each other which helped increase my learning.

Lessons Learned- My favorite talk of all my classes this week was Elder  Bednar's, "Your Whole Soul as an Offering Unto Him". 
Notes:
As students, I fear we may sometimes falsely separate spiritual development and progress (what I will refer to today as faithfulness) from academic discipline and competence (what I will refer to today as diligence)..... Rather, a college experience is a period of development in one’s life to be prized and prospered.  Indeed, simply settling for “getting    
through” college is like buying an expensive car that has no engine.  The car may look very good from the outside, but inside the real power is missing.

Now please turn with me to section four in the Doctrine and Covenants.  I want to draw your attention to verse two:  “Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.”  

Now, typically we would interpret heart, might, mind, and strength as four separate but interrelated factors that are required in the service of God.  May I suggest an additional interpretation?  Please consider the word “might” as descriptive of the “heart.”  In other words, a mighty heart is required for serving God.   Now also consider that the word “strength” as descriptive of the “mind.”  Therefore, to effectively serve God we also must have a strong mind.   

Perhaps, then, another way of interpreting this verse is as follows:  O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with a mighty heart, and with a strong mind, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.   

Let me emphasize once again, as I talk about “diligence” and “competence,” I am not suggesting that one must be a Rhodes Scholar, or a straight A student, or an apostle.  Rather, diligence implies a tenacious persistence about, an engagement in, and a love for the process of learning.  

Brothers and sisters, each of you has a responsibility to yourself to become a diligent student as a means of personal preparation for the challenges and responsibilities that lie ahead.  

You have a responsibility to your family to become a diligent student as an expression of your appreciation for and gratitude to them.  

And most importantly, you have a responsibility to the Savior and His church to become a diligent student because of the covenants you already have made or will yet make— particularly the covenants of sacrifice and consecration.  

Lectures on Faith on  Sacrifice: "Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation".

Our pledge is:  I will give all that I possess, and I am willing to die, if need be, for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  

    Sacrifice is motivated by faith and hope and produces increased commitment and a desire to obey.  

Sacrifice is what I will offer, surrender, yield, or give up.  Consecration, on the other hand, is to fully develop and dedicate to a sacred purpose.  

Our pledge is:  I will give me and all that I can become, and I will live for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 may I suggest that we must consecrate unto the Lord both a faithful heart and a strong mind—a mind capable of learning and instruction and discipline and receiving revelation.  And only our best is good   enough for the Lord.
what will you and I be prepared to offer unto God? Will you and I offer a mighty heart and strong mind, indeed, our whole soul, unto God? Please consider that during your time at Ricks College you are preparing “here and now” for the consecrated offering you will place upon the altar “there and then.” 
I also loved President Hinckley's message.
You just have to do you’re very best with all the capability that you have, you have to do your very best and somehow if you do that, God will open the way before you and the sun will shine and your lives will be fruitful and you’ll accomplish great good in the world in which you take apart couldn’t wish for you anything.
You what, you’re just simple kids you’re not geniuses, I know that. [Audience members laugh.] But the work of the world isn’t done by geniuses. Is done by ordinary people who’ve learned to work in an extraordinary way.
Then the last 2 videos by Reid Hoffman on investing in yourself. Constantly changing and improving yourself because people are buying you, not your product.

Lessons Not yet Learned-
Honestly, I struggled through the pdf readings this week about business. This has been a ridiculous week for me as we are starting the semester. I have been at my in law's house for a week and a half helping them clean it out and garage sale and get ready to move to Utah.
I am also figuring out how to home school my two youngest girls and so I haven't had time to finish the reading. I am hoping that I can catch up on sunday as we drive home because I want to get interested in business.

References-

www2.byui.edu/Presentations/transcripts/devotionals/1999_01_05_bednar.htm
/docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vQu9rd5Muvh9vf26Xv3_JCbIvdIeUwobWO0SeHO_vnu9b553Syf4L3kemIoji9qPl20u4unCU-49sIi/pub