Valuable Education

The aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values.  
— William Ralph Inge ​

Throughout my years of elementary, middle and then high school, I learned a lot of facts. My brain was overloaded with all sorts of mathematical equations, periodic table information, dates and times of all sorts of historical events and so much more. But, most of those have long since evaporated from my mind, the things that have lingered are things that touched me more deeply. Things like my friendships, or my love of learning, or the experiences I had laughing and crying. What was of value to me is what has remained with me so many years later. That is not to say that it wasn’t important to go through all those educational aspects, I needed to learn those facts and figures. And some of them do apply to my life today. Yet, the stuff that I hold dear are not the things that I necessarily learned from a textbook, but instead are the things I learned from the people around me and the opportunities afforded me. 
 
There is no more important lesson that I have learned, through experience and living life, than to love God. I did not learn that from a textbook and I didn’t learn it from sitting in a classroom, I learned it from my family, my friends, my experiences, my circumstances and my heart. The Bible says, “So be warned, my child, of anything else that might be said! There is no end to writing books, and excessive study only exhausts the body. And, when all is said and done, here is the last word: worship in reverence the one True God, and keep His commands, for this is what God expects of every person.” Ecclesiastes 12:12-13 (VOICE) This is where we learn our values, by worshiping God and following His commands. ​