Let us establish clearly our priorities in life. Let us go to the sacrament table repenting of our sins and renewing our covenants on a weekly basis. Let us serve others. Let us fast from critical talk and worldly behavior. Let us feast upon the Word.

Fellow graduates, think for a moment upon ways in which you have been blessed. Perhaps foremost among our blessings, and far more valuable than an automobile, is an education at one of the finest institutions in the world.

When we are modest, we reflect in our outward actions and appearance that we understand what God expects us to do.

You have been reserved to be here now on account of your exceeding faith in the premortal existence in our Heavenly Father’s plan. Your life also has a plan, and, as you trust in the Lord, you will see that plan unfold in miraculous ways.

I truly believe that one virtuous young woman or young man, led by the Spirit, can change the world! But before we can change the world, we must change ourselves.

It is beneficial for all of us to examine periodically where we spend our time and money and realize that this denotes the state of our hearts. As we adapt to simplicity, we feel more joy and gratitude. We appreciate more fully what we already have.

To create a home-court advantage for every member of the campus community, organizational efforts must be matched by individual efforts. This is a one-on-one, personal, individual ministry, and we need everyone!

Our Heavenly Father doesn’t need you to be mighty, intelligent, well dressed, well-spoken, or well inherited. He needs you to incline your hearts to Him and seek to honor Him by serving Him and reaching out in compassion to those around you.

The Lord desires to bless us in all our efforts to build His kingdom. If we have need of tools, resources, or some advantage in our stewardships, the Lord is eager to grant us our needs and desires. But the Lord does not offer a solution without any effort on our part.

As we negotiate the challenging and dangerous paths of this life, we can draw on the power of the sacred, holy, divine, awe-inspiring, sanctified, and hallowed.

Will we continually soften our hearts, change our lives, and partake of the knowledge and understanding our Father in Heaven wishes to give us? Or will we confine ourselves to the safe, secure methods of the educational establishment and accept a lesser portion?

Art that is centered in Christ invites the Holy Ghost to be present during its creation and, again, as it is experienced by others in performance, exhibition, or publication.

We prepare for living in the same way we prepare for writing: by learning what we need to learn and by doing what we need to do.

Well-meaning people may honestly disagree with my interpretation of how the universe is put together. Agency allows and requires this possibility. But for me, as I noted above, science is faith affirming because I choose to believe, and everything else follows.

I will not attempt to speak for your church, but I will speak for and to mine: It is never an option to claim Jesus Christ as Savior and behave in an uncivil manner with anyone, under any circumstance. Never.

The Lord needs faithful, articulate, committed men and women who are undaunted by what lies ahead and who are willing to stand up for what is right again and again.

You simply must understand this, because you were born to lead by virtue of who you are, the covenants you have made, and the fact that you are here now in the 11th hour.

Scriptures and revelation teach us the very doctrine of hope in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and tell us about our divine nature and our divine destiny. As children of our Heavenly Father, we were created with hope within ourselves, with the Light of Christ, with a divine potential.

My friends, wherever you find yourself spiritually, I say to you in love and humility: I know that God lives and will answer your sincere prayers.

Our Savior Jesus Christ sees us differently—not as we currently are but as we may become. I am awed by the love He has for me, who does not deserve it, and for the love He has for all of us—no matter who we are, no matter how different we may be from those around us, and no matter what struggles we have in our lives.

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, ­provided the ultimate example of service to others. Throughout His ministry, as He went about teaching His gospel, He blessed and healed the sick and afflicted.

We are all living in a deliverance story, and the Lord our God is the Great Deliverer. In Him there is power to save us from all struggles, sicknesses, and sins. There is a “balm in Gilead.” There is One Who Is Mighty to Save.

An essential part of the glory of God is light—or living, life-giving energy. In the scriptural sense, light is a capacitating power through which the righteous are given the faculty to receive truth.

We all have scenes and moments from our stories and the choices we have made that we are not proud of. Only through the power of His Atonement can we refine and smooth those awkward, badly performed moments in our lives. Only when we allow the Master Editor, our Savior Jesus Christ, to shape and cocreate with us can our story’s true potential emerge.

“Indeed there is a connection between freedom of the press and freedom of religion. For the sake of everything we hold dear in this country, may we keep both of these institutions free.”

The key to conversion and gaining a testimony of the mission and glory of Jesus Christ and the restoration of his gospel is found in the Book of Mormon.

Please remember when you look up at Y Mountain to ask yourself the question “Why Mountains?” My prayer is that you will remember that they are there not to befuddle us but to bless us.

I have seen some individuals who have confessed and forsaken their sins with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and yet are unable to accept the forgiveness that comes through the Atonement … They do not understand the miracle of forgiveness or the wonderful gift of grace that the Atonement is.

During a personal crisis of any kind individuals should remember the words of 1 Nephi 15:8, “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” Author cites several stories as examples.

Part of “redemption’s mystery” is our paradoxical—and yet ultimately not paradoxical—obligation to respect and love and protect the rights of others not of our faith.

I challenge each of us to remember we are part of our Father in Heaven’s earthly family, and we should love each other as our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ love us.

In such times of peace, happiness, and comfort, we are feeling the gift of the Holy Ghost at work with us. When we experience those good feelings, we can rest assured that we are feeling the consequences of possessing the gift of the Holy Ghost, and we are thus feeling the witness to us, on the part of this member of the Godhead, that Jesus Christ is real.

While it may appear to be easier to respect those we don’t know well or to love those who are most like ourselves, we have been commanded to love everyone.

To recognize sin we must not rely on the world but rely on our living prophet, President Hinckley; the scriptures; and our ecclesiastical leaders to show us the way.

All choices bring burdens. Aligning our choices with Christ, with His Church, and with His Apostles is the light burden.