"Seek ye out of the best books"

One of my favorite scriptures about my role as a mother and wife is found in Doctrine and Covenants 88: 119. It reads:

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God

 It is not the most profound or deep, but I have always liked that it was a blueprint for me. It contains building blocks for our family and home. Each building block helps us to create a house of God in our home, a place where the Spirit can dwell.

Of course there is another part of the blueprint we do not want to forget. It is the foundation of a strong home.

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12)

This idea of a blueprint may be oversimplifying things, but it allows me have a measure of how we are doing as a family and how I am doing as an individual. Today I was thinking about how we are creating a house of learning.

This brings me to the idea of "yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith" (D&C 88:118).  Although I feel gospel learning is the most important thing we can study and learn about, secular knowledge is also important. That is why we have been taking the time to homeschool D at a preschool age. During our schooling time today I realize something. My hubby spends his time at a job in academics, where he is always teaching, as well learning and growing himself. I plan activities and lessons that help D to learn and grow. But I wasn't doing anything to help me learn and grow. I was stagnant as far as my secular learning was concerned. I felt I should be a better example of what I believe to be an intricate part of life. I believe education is not only for schooling years. It is about growing as people, about using the gift of the ability to reason and to understand. I decided to start my education again. It starts here:

I ordered a calculus book today. I bought an older edition for $8. I used to love math and it has been years since I have used it. Maybe calculus isn't the most practical choice. Maybe I should spend my learning time on something I would use more often, but I am actually excited to relearn something I loved before. Plus, it helps when you are married to a math professor, right??? (I was actually surprised he didn't have a calculus book in his vast collection of math books. I guess it is just too simple of math.)

So, I feel really quite nerdy for being so excited, but I am. I think I will find joy in learning and stretching myself. Yea for education!

How do you keep the process of learning alive in your life?