I had an interview with Elder Devn Cornish today for a potential visiting professor job at BYU. I wish I’d had a pen and paper with me to take notes. How often do you get 45 minutes one-on-one with a General Authority? He was so kind and I learned a lot from my visit with him. His job is to basically do an ecclesiastical check on candidates.
I tossed and turned in my sleep because I was worried how I would answer a question about my family. Do I mention divorce? The reason? Well, that topic came up quickly. Elder Cornish asked me to tell him about myself, where I grew up, my family, etc.
I told him that as of Thursday, I’m divorced after 28+ years of marriage. I told him it was an unhealthy marriage and that I was told by the spirit that it was time to get divorced. I also told him I found out Keenan is attracted to men. He said he was very sorry. He said he’s heard and seen this story many times. I told him I’ve been wondering how I can look back on the last 28 years and not be upset or feel a great loss. He said it takes time and it never goes away. He said my story isn’t over; just this chapter. He also has experience in his own family with divorce and indicated that he believes some marriages happen because Heavenly Father knows that it’s the best opportunity for us to receive those ordinances and to learn lessons we need to learn, but that they aren’t necessarily the permanent arrangement.
Side note, after my interview, I got a text from a friend with a picture of Keenan she saw on Mutual, a dating app for members of the church. For a minute it put a pit in my stomach, but now I’m grateful she shared it with me. Good for him. Move on. I am.
Elder Cornish suggested I read a talk by Elder Scott, titled “First Things First.” I’m going to take a look at that later today.
We also talked about BYU’s honor code. Following the honor code out of obedience is a telestial argument. Following it because it keeps us out of trouble and on the right path is a terrestrial argument. The celestial argument for following the honor code is that the spirit is the teacher. When we follow the honor code, we put ourselves and those around us in a better place to have the companionship of the spirit. Conversely, when we don’t follow, we are rebelling, and the spirit doesn’t stick around when we’re rebellious. Elder Cornish said that he’s taught at universities before and if he were to teach physiology at BYU, he’d start the semester something like this:
“Physiology is hard. We are going to work hard to learn it. I’ve had many times when the spirit spoke to me at the bedside of a dying child and helped me better understand physiology and what could save that baby. Now let’s talk about the honor code. If we can all agree to live by the honor code as a class, we will have the spirit to help teach us. We will learn more. Can we all commit to doing that for each other?”
I told him that in the past, I have only 1 spiritual thought that I consistently do every semester and that is to share my favorite scripture with my students (Doctrine & Covenants 112:10). I mentioned that I think I may add his thoughts on the honor code as another spiritual thought that I will consistently share.
We talked a lot about loving our students. He mentioned that the two great laws are love God and love our neighbor. They are in that order for a reason. If we mix them up and love our neighbor above God, we get things mixed up. If we stick to God’s laws first, everything falls into place because God loves His children and always does what is best for their well-being.
That’s about what I remember. We had a really nice visit. I was able to tell him about our connection to Arkansas and that he visited Mel’s mission when she was there. I told him I love his story of praying to find a quarter so he could buy chicken on his ride home from his residency because I know of the sacrifice that our doctor family members and their families made.
It was about 45 minutes and it was great. Now I’m back to working on my online classes for spring. I won’t get an official offer until around June and really anything can happen since things are so crazy right now, but I know it will all work out.
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