Julie B. Beck, beloved former General Relief Society President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reflected upon her return to school when her family was young: . . . “Raymon (her husband) was often serving with the young men in our ward, and he was also filling assignments in the Utah National Guard, which meant he was away from home a lot of weekends. For all that time as a student at BYU, I was in my ward Primary Presidency, and for five of those years I was Primary President. During those five years our ward was divided four times which required organizing and training new teachers and leaders. It was my responsibility to keep the older Primary boys moving ahead with their Scouting and to work with members of the bishopric and ward council.
. . . . I actually enjoyed going back to school as an older student. As a mother and a wife and a Primary President, I now knew what priority was. I learned differently from when I was a young, single student. I prioritized my study time better. I had a more clear and active mind. I had energy, enthusiasm and respect for the learning process. My time away from family was a sacrifice, so the opportunity to learn was more precious than it had been before.
I was happy to discover that I could compete quite well academically. For the first time in life, I was successful in school and I loved that feeling. In the years that I had been away from academia, I had acquired better skills in memorizing and learning. I knew how to apply myself better, and I was a better communicator. It was thrilling to discover that I can study and absorb new information. I had not had that experience in my childhood—and surely not as a teen. It seemed to be a blessing that the Lord had delayed that opportunity until I could appreciate it. I enjoyed many of my classes, such as children’s literature and art, microbiology, astronomy and Portuguese, which I had spoken as a little girl when our family served a mission in Brazil.
My last semester was something of a crucible. It was a typically cold Utah winter, and right at midterm, our ward was divided. In the ward division, I lost both counselors and 15 primary teachers. That same week our son came down with ear infections and pneumonia. I missed more than a week of school just taking care of my family and the heavy needs of life. At the end of that week I was exhausted, and critically behind in my schoolwork. I was not prepared for midterm exams, and had a number of papers and assignments to complete. The effort to catch up seemed almost impossible. When the alarm rang early on the Monday I was to return to school I turned it off and mumbled into my pillow, “I quit!” My husband, who usually slept through my morning exit, sat up and said, “What?!? I’ve worked too hard for this degree. Get up and go to school!”
Somehow I finished all that I needed to do for midterms. Our son recovered, the ward was reorganized, and I continued through the rest of the semester. On my last day on campus, after I took my microbiology final there was a mist of rain falling, slightly obscuring the Y on the mountain. I thought, “The heavens are weeping for joy with me. We did it!” It was a wonderful moment. ~Julie B. Beck
This is a preamble… Sister Beck’s comments will be continued with ‘Lessons Learned’ tomorrow.
From her book ‘Joy in the Covenant’, Julie B. Beck (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book. 2018),70-72
