To be like the Savior is to be whole, which implies that we are engaged in acts of selfless service. Selfless service requires personal action, a desire to pick up our beds and walk. It is easy to give away excess money, used equipment, and used clothing. It is more difficult to give of our time, to give of our personal presence to help others.

At times I wonder if we know how to think, if we are developing a creative mind, because that is where all good works and all important accomplishments begin.

The nature of deity in the composition of our spiritual organization opens the door to the vision of eternal life and divine destiny.

As Elder Holland and Elder Scott suggest, let us all, both personally and collectively, look at our traditions and the established way we do things and make sure they are in line with how the Lord would have us live and, if necessary, establish new traditions.

“The standard we must demand is that all we do, in the classroom and out, must reflect our respect and appreciation for our differences.”

With your knowledge of who you are and what is important in life and by maximizing options, adding value each day, and avoiding these inhibitors of success, the changing world you face presents great opportunities, not threats, for you.

We are commanded to care for the Lord’s creations and be wise stewards over them. Because I have benefitted so greatly from the divine Creation, I truly want to be a good steward over it.

We are dedicated to cultivating the Spirit of the Y by keeping you informed and connected to the good works faculty and alumni are doing in the world and by providing opportunities for you to learn, volunteer, contribute, and serve with the students, programs, and activities of your alma mater—keeping you “Connected for Good.”

I invite you to continue to let the mission of BYU guide you to the high points in your life. Let that mission continue to lift and inspire you.

As you can learn to see through the generations—by looking back and by looking forward—you will see more clearly who you are and what you must become. You will better see that your place in this vast, beautiful plan of happiness is no small place. And you will come to love the Savior and depend on Him.

The iron rod is the word of God. The scriptures, the words of the living prophets, and the gift of the Holy Ghost are powerful in their ability to keep us safe. Let us hold fast to the words of the prophets. Let us hold fast to the iron rod.

Your spiritual destiny will have obstacles, delays, and equipment malfunctions. There will be mistakes. You may wonder if you are going to make it. Don’t be discouraged! You will also have moments of hope and faith as doors open and obstacles are overcome.

Honesty, integrity, and truth are eternal principles that significantly shape our experience in mortality and help determine our eternal destiny. For a disciple of Christ, honesty is at the very heart of spirituality.

As the world slides from its spiritual moorings, the Lord prepares the way for those who seek Him, offering them greater assurance, greater confirmation, and greater confidence in the spiritual direction they are traveling.

Caring for others, physically and emotionally, requires an unselfish and sensitive heart. It is an important part of the gospel. This caring is done in and out of the Church by good people, believers and nonbelievers.

As you increase your efforts from now through Christmas, the desire to continue these habits beyond Christmas will stay with you, and your progress as one of the Savior’s disciples will grow.

There is no need to be fearful about the tests of life. As your faith in Jesus Christ is firm, the tests of mortality will shape your eternal destiny.

Recognize that all good things come from God. He is the source of every blessing you receive. Fill your heart with gratitude for His merciful kindness.

Today I am going to speak about some ways to improve our computer-security behavior, and I am going to offer some spiritual-behavior tips to keep us safe spiritually.

As we desire to respond to the Savior’s invitation to come, we will have to leave behind our weaknesses and our sins.

Hopefully, while listening in lectures, attending presentations, researching, writing, and creating, we have come away with a method of learning that is portable and personal. Hopefully we will take with us the ability to continue to learn, even when the scaffolding that held us up here has fallen away.

The Lord desires your success. He desires your success in all aspects of your life—in your profession, in your education, in your family, in your relationships. The Lord desires your success.

As you read Joseph Smith’s teachings and Paul’s letters note the total commitment of each. Both were men consumed with a mission, which continues the question of what is really important in your world and your life.

I have pondered the analogous circumstances in which many of the recorded prophets found themselves faced with commands from God that were, if anything, counterintuitive. How and why did they respond?

Just like the candy M&M’s come in so many colors but all taste the same, missionary work looks different for every person but all leads to the same thing—bringing souls unto Christ.

Joseph’s well-adjusted nature was infectious. Those brought up in the strict, long-faced, pious tradition soon found themselves liberated so they could fulfill their foreordained roles of being leaders of the Saints.

“Act the role of the Latter-day Saint, be that noble bearer of the priesthood, and do all that’s necessary in order to measure up to your Father in heaven’s expectations.”

The chain held by Satan is referred to in the scriptures as “the chains of hell” (Alma 12:11) … They start as flaxen threads and encumber a person habit by habit, sin by sin, and strand by strand.

“A knowledge of who we are, a self-image that is ennobling, a strict sense of moral responsibility, a disciplined spirit, and a keen sense of duty to God—these are the keys to spiritual power.”

I promise that if you will feast upon the scriptures daily, especially the Book of Mormon, you will invite the Spirit into your life and you will naturally pray daily, repent more often, and find it easier to attend church and partake of the sacrament weekly.

“Look to tomorrow with happy expectancy, realizing that with God’s help you can do all things.”

“The ultimate in maturity is being able to feel and express appreciation, being fully aware of value and importance, and showing gratitude for it.”

There is an aid, there is a strength, there is a power when we count our blessings as we labor under crosses that sometimes seem unreasonable and unfair but that can be for our good and for our strength. Carry your crosses with strength, with purpose, and while you do, count the blessings of God’s strength.

Not all of us may be called to positions of heavy and mighty responsibility. But it gives satisfaction to me—and I hope to you, too—to know that the final test is “are you continuing and will you continue?”

I am impressed with Hyrum’s life, his attitude, and the love that the Lord has for him. The Lord will always have a special love for those who embrace the right. May God help us to realize that in Hyrum Smith we have a man who is a worthy example.

“I pray God to help us remember true leaders always lead with mild voices, love, and persuasion.”

Truly, if we love God, we will serve him now, and give thanks now.

We need scholars, teachers, and administrators who are balanced. We need intellectuals who are intelligent. We need probers who aggressively pursue the truth. We need researchers who are willing to pray. We need teachers who teach with Christlike parables.

I have total confidence and faith in the wisdom and omniscience of a loving, merciful Heavenly Father—to be dependent upon him and yet to communicate with him, I must make faithful personal effort on a never-ending basis.

I believe that if we will approach all our meetings with a desire to become one with the Holy Spirit, our feelings of the Spirit will dictate our actions, and without prior thought or instruction we will act and speak accordingly.

“God is the embodiment of the attribute of happiness. To be like him is to experience a fulness of joy. If we go contrary to that sacred nature, we go contrary to the nature of happiness.”

As we leave BYU, we have the opportunity to not only choose what we will do but who we will become.

What is our role as redemptive turbulence literally shakes people out of the kingdoms of the world? We must stand with our arms open, ready to catch them, accepting the Lord’s invitation to “come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers [or catchers] of men.”

Great blessings come when the faithful endure adversity.

At times we will learn first and be tried later; at other times the Lord will try us first and then teach us from the trials. But in spite of the sequence, I pray that we will move forward with faith in and love for the Lord—even while not knowing beforehand what lies ahead.

I believe that when an engineer, a musician, a social scientist, or anyone educated in a given discipline reads the scriptures, they too can gain insights and make discoveries unique to that discipline if they are looking for them and if they are observant. It is exciting to be a part of a community of learners who are doing so and then sharing their insights and discoveries with others. I hope you will develop the habit of being so observant—of regularly considering what your learning can tell you about the gospel and what the gospel can tell you about your learning.

Many may find that their lives are out of synchronization with the plan of salvation. If we see something in our lives that is not what it ought to be, then we must have the courage to repent and make the necessary changes immediately.

Many of you sitting here as students of Brigham Young University will carry a remarkable role in fulfilling the prophecies of the Prophet Joseph Smith until that day does come when the great Jehovah shall say, “It is enough.”

If you will remain unwaveringly anchored to the Lord Jesus Christ and devote your heart and soul to him . . . you will be blessed and all of the promises of the eternities will be given unto you.

Kirtland is truly a holy ground of this dispensation. The Church basks in the light of revelation today to a great extent because of the great Pentecostal outpouring that Joseph and the Saints received in Kirtland.

Toward the end of the Savior’s ministry, His disciples came to Him with several questions all centered around one key prophetic event: “Tell us, when shall these things be?”

Today, as one of the Lord’s apostles, I charge you to prepare spiritually and in every other way to be prepared for the important work ahead for you to do.

We cannot fulfill our mission as a Church without the inspired insight and support of women. They matter to the Lord, and their value is infinite.

The Lord has given us specific doctrines and principles that show us how to clothe ourselves in the armor of God so that we can stand against the powers of evil.

You will receive promptings, and, from my point of view, there is no education more important than learning to know and respond to the promptings of the Spirit. Stay worthy of and live for the companionship of the Spirit.

God will give you strength beyond your own as you strive daily to fulfill the most sacred mortal responsibility He gives to His children.

If we want to be respected today for who we are, then we need to act confidently—secure in the knowledge of who we are and what we stand for—and not as if we have to apologize for our beliefs.

Live the doctrine of Christ, the simple and basic principles of the gospel, each day—have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repent, honor the covenant of baptism, live worthy of the Holy Ghost as your companion, and endure to the very end.

Surely we will be able to think straight if we stay focused on God’s eternal plan and doctrine and use our strength in reaching out and helping others to do the same as we share our testimonies and our knowledge of the basic and simple message of the Restoration of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When we love God, we make and strive to keep our sacred covenants. I testify that living gospel commandments brings anyone untold blessings, allowing us to become our very best selves—exactly who God wants us to be.

I invite you to look deep in your souls and ask how you can fulfill your purpose of being a child of God by loving the Lord and loving your neighbor more faithfully than you ever have before.

“We understand that as we strive for excellence in our secular lives we can balance our efforts with our own spiritual quest to be more like the Master, even Jesus Christ.”

Let us strive to give of ourselves through service to others. We cannot remain aloof from the needs and sufferings of others. No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, there is always an opportunity for us to serve.

Our prophets have reminded us that this mortal estate is a school to learn how to be gods and goddesses, having increase and creating worlds while giving all glory to the Father. I would like to suggest that crucibles are one way in which we move toward eternity—connecting our premortal, mortal, and postmortal identities.

Accept Christ’s invitation to come to Him and begin your own journey and experience of seeing the Atonement’s influence on your weaknesses.

The Prophet Joseph Smith taught us how to serve the Lord as the Lord would have us serve him. In fact, he said if we aren’t drawing near the Lord in principle, we are going from him and drawing towards the devil.

Stories are a way to preserve our history and culture, passing it along to the next generation in a form that is easy for others to remember. Stories help us explore possibilities.

I believe that we, the graduating class of 2015, are the students that Alfred Kelly saw more than one hundred years ago. What can we do to be the vision?

It is both the reading and abiding that gets us nearer to God, and that allows us to accept His invitation to come unto Him and be saved because we cannot be saved in ignorance. We cannot receive all that our Father has without understanding all that He is and does.

As we repent, are faithful, and learn to recognize and rely on the light that is available to us through the Light of Christ and the Holy Ghost, the path that leads us to the presence of our Heavenly Father will be illuminated and our ability to see with an eternal perspective will be enhanced.

Take advantage of every resource and do your best to keep your spirit, your body, and your mind strong.

It is my prayer, my young, valiant brothers and sisters, that we will seek to be one with our Savior, Jesus Christ, by applying the principles of the gospel in our lives and living obediently to his commandments…

“We can only be perfected through the Father’s plan, with the core of that plan centered in Christ and His atonement”

If we continue earnestly with faith and hope in Christ to seek the gift of charity, it will be granted to us. We will be filled with a love of God and of all people.

Christ is the basis for all that we do. Without the Savior and His Atonement, there would be no good news to spread.

Family relationships are sacred. The bonds within families have spiritual roots. We know that we lived as brothers and sisters before coming to earth.

Can you sense the blessings that await if you drink deeply of Christ’s living water? Will you set aside a few minutes each day to read from the scriptures and then ponder the meaning of the verses read?

Who are we? We are the spirit offspring of an Eternal Being who has given us the opportunity to experience mortality—a brief but critical time in an eternal journey.

“We can trust him. He earned our trust in the Garden and on the cross.”

May our testimonies motivate us to improve our lot in life, to withstand the temptations of the adversary, to enjoy good friends, and to face adversity with hope and courage, knowing that unspeakable joy awaits us in the eternities.

“I thought how important BYU is as a window on the Church. The glass is not dark but clear and allows viewers to see the values and truths of the restored gospel.”

“You have been gathered on this campus to strengthen your testimonies and acquire sacred and secular knowledge that will give you the power to be a righteous influence in this world.”

It is clear that the Lord is preparing the earth for His second coming. May we appreciate the day in which we live.

Christ is the basis for all that we do. Without the Savior and His Atonement, there would be no good news to spread.

The university and the Church have added light to your being, but none has received the fullness that lies ahead.

A strong trunk is essential if the branches and secondary roots are to receive quality nourishment. The parent trunk in Provo must be extraordinary both spiritually and secularly if the reach is to be infinite.

Even when death comes to those we love, we know what lies ahead. We know they are fine. It is those of us who are left behind who are sad. We know we will see them again, and we know we will be with them.

Family relationships are sacred. The bonds within families have spiritual roots. We know that we lived as brothers and sisters before coming to earth.

Can you sense the blessings that await if you drink deeply of Christ’s living water? Will you set aside a few minutes each day to read from the scriptures and then ponder the meaning of the verses read?

Who are we? We are the spirit offspring of an Eternal Being who has given us the opportunity to experience mortality—a brief but critical time in an eternal journey.

Please remember this principle as you leave the university: “If you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves.”

Remember the great gifts of mortality: the physical body, additional light, and the eternal family. These gifts are sacred. May the Lord bless you during this wonderful phase of life that is yours to live so that you may receive all three of these great promises in their fulness.

When discussing Joseph Smith’s role as a translator, many only associate the Prophet with his role in the translation of the Book of Mormon. However, he successfully translated at least three additional ancient texts.

Branches separated from their roots wither and die, but when they are connected, they receive nourishment, which brings abundant life.

Each of you, who have been given so much, has a duty to shine. To do this you must shun the ungodly influences in the world and maintain high standards. The path of mediocrity can never be yours. To be seen as a standard, your life must be one of distinction and excellence. It must be filled with good works that inspire others to seek God and to live Christlike lives.

These blessings of greater happiness, peace, and rest are the blessings each of us receive as we make covenants in holy temples and form eternal families. Your patriarchal blessings help you understand your personal lineage to Abraham.

There is much work a quorum must do as a quorum and much a Relief Society is to do as a circle of sisters, and there is much that is to be coordinated between them.

“This is your time to prepare, to develop character, to increase your faith. I have great confidence in you and your ability to figure out the future.”

As you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to be changed.

Much like faith precedes the miracle, much like baptism by water comes before the baptism by fire…so being quick to observe is a prerequisite to and a preparation for the gift of discernment.

As water is necessary to sustain physical life, so the Savior and His doctrines, principles, and ordinances are essential for eternal life.

Today you become alumni of Brigham Young University and have the responsibility to help the world better understand who we are and what we do at this remarkable institution. How you live, what you do, and what you become ultimately define this university.

When we distance ourselves from relationships, covenants, and the physical body in an online virtual reality, we lose sight of things as they really are.

In our personal lives and in the performance of our university duties, you and I have the responsibility to do nothing that would constrain these heavenly powers from blessing those whom we serve.

Joy comes from exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, worthily receiving and faithfully honoring sacred ordinances and covenants, and striving to become deeply converted to the Savior and His purposes.

Tenemos la bendición de vivir y servir en una de las épocas más notables de la dispensación del cumplimiento de los tiempos. Testifico que ninguna mano impía y ninguna pandemia pueden impedir que la santa obra del Señor progrese.

We are blessed to live and serve in a most remarkable season of the dispensation of the fulness of times. I testify that no unhallowed hand and no pandemic can keep the Lord’s holy work from progressing.

As an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I invoke these blessings upon you, that as you look to the Savior and trust in Him, you will be blessed with hope to overcome perplexity, with spiritual settledness to cut through commotion, with ears to hear and a heart to always remember the word of the Lord, and with the discernment to see things as they really are.

May we all remember that gospel gifts typify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; that they may be given to us by God or by our fellow mortals; that the giving and receiving of gospel gifts are two separate actions; that our true receipt of a gospel gift is manifested by keeping the gift; and that giving thanks for our gospel gifts is itself a gospel gift because giving thanks also typifies Jesus Christ.

Let us remember that “all are alike unto God” and that the entire world is populated by sons and daughters of God—sons and daughters who chose Him and His plan.

If you will act with faith in your Heavenly Father and His plan and in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and follow God’s prophets, you will be given power to do whatever the Lord needs you to do and to become whatever He needs you to become.

I…have chosen to see the hand of the Lord not only in our history but also in the discovery of new understandings of His handiwork in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days.

This nation has a spiritual foundation—a prophetic history.

The celestial kingdom, residence of God, our Eternal Father, is comprised of men and women who have complied with divine law and who were not deceived by the craftiness of men or the doctrines of devils.

Jesus is the Christ! He broke the bands of death. He is our Savior and Redeemer, the very Son of God. He will come again, as the scriptures proclaim. And that day is not far distant.

We follow a perfect leader—not just one who tells us to do what he thinks we should do, but the only one who can say that we should be as He is in everything. In the Book of Mormon, the Lord asked the question, “What manner of men ought ye to be?” And then He answered by saying, “Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”

I testify to you that there is no greater, more thrilling, and more soul-ennobling challenge than to try to learn of Christ and walk in His steps.

My beloved brothers and sisters in the gospel, our Heavenly Father desires nothing for us but to be happy. He tells us only those things that will bring us joy. And one of the surest principles given by God to help us find that joy is the law of chastity.

In Zion, there are no imposters or frauds. We all belong.

“I hope that we may continually improve our behavior toward others in the way our Savior would have us do, to be magnanimous in our thoughts and deeds.”

We should all be seen as equal objects of favor and respect before God and build lives of intrinsic human dignity and individuality.

We are not meant to accomplish this life alone. While we are waiting, we have angels ascending and descending all around us.

Heavenly Father is intimately interested in hearing from us and that He is omnipresent and available to listen at all times.

Certainly we are ruled by ideas; and when we bear in mind the great ideas which Joseph Smith brought to the attention of mankind, which he taught to us, we begin to realize why his influence grows with the years.

I appreciate this opportunity to talk about BYU’s human resources—about you and me and our friends, roommates, and coworkers. We are truly blessed.

Inviting creativity into your professional and private lives is worth searching and striving for; don’t ever give up.

You are stronger than you think. Heavenly Father knows and loves each of you. If you will make sure that you are all the way in by trusting in the Lord, taking His yoke upon you, and following Him, then He will make you a conqueror.

Like a simple magnifying glass that brings things into focus using the light of the sun, the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring your life into focus with light from the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer.

What fills me with profound awe is that our Brother Jesus Christ would be willing to “descend from his throne divine” to suffer, bleed, and die to rescue rebellious souls like me and you. His sacrifice is “sufficient . . . to redeem, and to justify” all of humanity, and at the same time He succors you and me personally. That is truly awesome!

Almost immediately upon becoming a member of the Church, the Spirit of Elijah began to burn deeply within me. I not only faced the fact that I had Russian ancestry but began to embrace it. I became overwhelmingly grateful for all of the sacrifices that both sets of grandparents had made in eking out a better existence for themselves and their posterity in a new land.

Reconciliation with God is at the core of the gospel. Reconciliation is, after all, the object of the Atonement wrought by the Son of God.

If your beliefs are based on gospel perspectives, your glasses or belief window will allow you to see eternity from a celestial kingdom perspective.

Remember, the present is the time when we have freedom and actuality. Use that freedom to create a fulfilling life now instead of basing your happiness on something that has not happened yet.

We have great opportunities because of the experiences that we share, and we can bring each other forward as we enter to learn and go forth to serve.

Your diligence and perseverance and patience in arriving here today will serve you well as this graduating class goes to many parts of this world where your intellect, energy, experience, and values are so critically needed.

Are we ready to choose to commit to the Lord’s plan? Are we ready to choose to forsake our sins and come unto Christ? Will we choose to call on His name?

In order for us to have faith in the Lord, we have to get to know Him. One of the beautiful things I have found while learning about the Lord is that the more I learn about Him, the more I also learn about myself and who I am to Him.

In all of your dealings with others, decide today to do the right thing for the right reason. If you wait until the moment of necessity to make that life-changing decision, you will often make the wrong choice.

No one else can do what you can do. Please do not compare yourselves to others. Rather, bloom where you’re planted!

With selflessness we demonstrate our true relationship and intimacy with the Savior. It is the link that binds together the family of God.

In the end, leadership is about serving, teaching, and encouraging and truly caring for individuals with kindness.

There is a big difference between liking to accomplish something and doing it—a big difference.

“I will tell you that right now there are many here who feel alone, frightened, and inadequate and who need the love and support that one or more of you can and should give.”

Recognizing that you, as students, have come to BYU for more than academic rigor, I have made it a point to share a spiritual thought in each section I teach every day I am in the classroom.

“And the Savior’s apparent failure at Calvary was in actuality the greatest conquest in all eternity, the conquest over sin and death.”

While five or six years of graduate school may have started us on the path toward becoming pretty good scientists or literary scholars, they did not necessarily qualify us to redesign the campus, or to replace Norm Chow in calling the football plays, or to run the Church.

“We need to comprehend that those who hold contrary opinions not only may be sincere but may actually be right. And even when we continue in the view that our perceptions are correct, we should be able to deal graciously with the views of others.”

Ultimately it is this faith in what God has done for us and revealed to us through his Son that will strengthen our trust in him when things go wrong.

If people witness you as a giver, they will see a leader. Servant leadership is no joke, and it’s a secret to success, whether you’re looking for success or not. When people see you giving and cooperating and serving others, they will see in you a leader, or a future leader, and they cannot help but help you.

If we are going to beat the problem of contempt, we’re going to need something more radical than civility—something that speaks to our hearts’ desire. We need love.

What I have been talking about today is something that seems apolitical—it is not about democracy; it is just simply about seeing each other.

With the battle raging between good and evil, I have seen many a modern, mighty woman stick her banner in the ground in her own way as she takes a stand and defends the doctrine of Jesus Christ.

Each of us has the ability to receive the direction we need to achieve a balanced life. My hope and prayer is that we will do what we need to do to have the influence of our Father in Heaven in our lives.

“I sincerely believe that we can establish Zion, the city of the pure in heart, the city of those who have washed their sins in the blood of the Lamb, person by person, sin by sin.”

I say to you from the very center of my heart that by the revelations of the Holy Ghost I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Although these evidences and many others that could be cited may have the effect of giving one an intellectual conviction, only by the whisperings of the Holy Spirit can one come to know the things of God.

Whatever undertakings may demand of you and of your attention, I tell you, young men and young women, you cannot make a better resolution today than this: “I am going to keep close to the Lord. I am going to understand Him better, and, understanding Him, I will understand myself and will try to put my life into harmony with His.”

The gospel offers us a feast fit for royalty, and we are immature and growing princes and princesses. But to receive the fullness offered to us—and think of that in the physical sense of being full when you eat—we must partake wholeheartedly, joyfully.

Just as a reliable physical heart is needed to provide nourishment to our physical bodies, a reliable spiritual heart is needed to provide nourishment to our spirits.

“Will our faith be tested? I believe so. Might we see disappointment and heartache and calamity? Again, I believe so. But we live with the ringing reassurance from the Savior both in this sermon and elsewhere that He is in charge.”

“That is what we missionaries around the world hope to do—share something of ourselves, of our faith and conviction, that part of us which is most needed by others to affirm heartening meaning in this often perplexing life.”

God is always trying to talk to you—even when you are unable to perceive it. Most often He is trying to tell you that He loves you and that you are His priority. He has provided and will continue to provide many countless ways to demonstrate our value and priority.

Dios siempre está tratando de hablar con ustedes, aun cuando no puedan percibirlo. La mayoría de las veces, Él está tratando de decirles que los ama y que ustedes son Su prioridad. Él ha proporcionado y continuará proporcionando muchas maneras incontables de demostrar lo mucho que nos valora y prioriza.

When we remember that the war may extend beyond mortality and the rewards may be far greater than the short-term recognition, income, or influence we may have sought, we will not lose the eternal perspective we need to keep.

Making mistakes is simply part of the human condition and can be one of your most productive learning tools. Yes, you need to recognize your mistakes. But more than that, you need to find a way to effectively play through them.

As we enter into a covenant relationship with [God], we will experience the joy and exhilaration of becoming one with Him. When we give Him the reins, He will make of our lives more than we could ever dream, more than we could ever do running wild through life on our own.

In time, you will one day look down at the shoreline of your life and see it washed clean, purified, and sanctified, and in the water’s reflection you will see the image of Christ in your countenance.

Today I would like to share three lessons that I have learned from the experiences from my life. I do so with the sincere hope that these lessons might in some way be helpful to you.

I am convinced that we can find, know, and experience the tender, unconditional love of Jesus of Nazareth as we serve Him by serving our ­fellowmen.

I pray that we will always endeavor in our lives to focus on matters of most importance. I testify that we are on the Lord’s errand. We are blessed to be led by living prophets.

For me, and I hope for you, it comes down to this simple fact: It is an awesome and exciting time to be alive because the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has again been restored to the earth in our day. Only a relative few of our Father in Heaven’s children have had that great blessing and opportunity.

You must realize it is better to solve serious problems before marriage than to try to resolve such problems after marriage. If you start out right with mature preparation for the marriage venture, it can be a glorious, wonderful experience. If you start out wrong because of lack of proper preparation and mature experience, marriage can be a disaster.

As we learn to be always filled with the Light and Spirit of Christ, we will always be able to see the foolishness and the disaster of the self-centeredness of men.

BYU graduates before you have walked this path and can relate to what you are experiencing. You are not alone! The support you have felt as a BYU student doesn’t end just because you are graduating.

Let me ask you another question: What is Heavenly Father’s game plan for us? I am sure He would like you to implement some of your goals and some of your parents’ goals. But His game plan for us is found in Moses 1:39: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Now that is a game plan. It appears to me that our Father in Heaven has high expectations for all of us. Have we embraced those goals?

Often the Lord calls us to do difficult things that we may not be sure we want to do but that will bring great blessings.

The nearer we get to God, the more easily our spirits are touched by refined and beautiful things. If we could part the veil and observe our heavenly home, we would be impressed with the cultivated minds and hearts of those who so happily live there.

Perhaps at times you may feel that God is not aware of you or that you haven’t felt His love. I believe that if you will reflect for just a moment on the loving service you receive from others, you will see the workings of the Lord moving in the background.

Integrity is the very core of our being. It is who we really are. When all the scaffolding is removed, it is our integrity that both defines us and identifies us.

Why is it so critical to have a correct vision of this divine destiny of godliness of which the scriptures and other witnesses so clearly testify? Because with increased vision comes increased motivation.

Why is it so important for you individually to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon? Because if you do, it will become your personal iron rod.

“A brother, a sister, or a friend can literally be an oasis in the desert of mortality—the mere sight of them can refresh and renew. This type of friendship is an example of God’s tender mercy.”

No matter what challenges or uncertainties you face, I pray that you will always faithfully employ this essential spiritual element in your learning.

Each of us must find and know the way the Lord chooses to communicate with us through the Holy Ghost. This process is extremely personal. The Lord will not use methods to communicate with each of us different from those He has used in the past.

By all means let’s continue to pray for the poor and needy, the sick, and those who mourn. But let’s all—every one of us—do more than pray. Let’s do what we can, according to our circumstances, to lift those arms that hang down. Let’s act in a way that will bless the poor and needy.

Improper understandings of love–which unfortunately are common in our culture today–are responsible for many of the struggles some individuals and couples have in dating, courtship, and marriage.

Dr. Clayborne Carson, Stanford University Historian, shares some personal insights from the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr.

As you build upon these strengths, humbly recognize your personal limitations, remain faithful to your covenants, and put your confidence in the Lord, you will see your weaknesses transformed into strengths through the power and grace of His Atonement.

True beauty is the result of a subtle alchemy and a delicate balance, which in large part comes from our personal inner light, rather than from aesthetic or physical criteria alone.

I would invite each of you to study and prepare your minds and then make a commitment to develop your talents and provide a significant contribution to the world.

My young friends, remember that marriage is essential to eternal life and that a good marriage and family life is crafted, not found.

Nations change when people change, and people change through the witness of other people—people like each of you here today. You make the future. You build it stone by stone with the choices you make.

As you leave your alma mater, you’ll carry many fond memories of your years on this campus. You’ll recall the long hours of hard work in the library and the lab, the sound of the national anthem in the morning and evening, and the teachers and the friends who have enriched your life.

President Hinckley is encouraging us to be prepared, both spiritually and temporally, so that we might receive all the blessings Heavenly Father has in store for His children.

Clayton Christensen teaches about the dangers of success through the historic pattern of disruptive innovations that caused successful companies to stumble.

Today, as you look to the future—as your future “commences,” if you will—the words of an often-quoted Chinese proverb are worth taking seriously: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

I invite you to consider how you will demonstrate your trust in God throughout your lives. What will you do to show God that you trust Him above everything else—above your own wisdom and especially above the wisdom of the world?

Opportunities to gather the elect, to lift others, and to let your light shine are not reserved only for members of the Living Legends or our other BYU performing groups. Opportunities to serve … are available to all of us if we will seek for them and have the faith and courage to accept them when they come.

The powerful truths of the gospel stretch our minds and spirits, and after knowing and believing even some of them, our lives are changed forever.

I believe that one of the most significant obstacles to our laying hold upon the word is our inability to fully immerse ourselves in the word or other worthwhile things—our inability to fully focus on them.

Those who view their contemporaries as competitors to be beaten rather than as brothers and sisters to be served often believe that others’ successes diminish their own. They are therefore more apt to find and point out faults of those around them.

All things sacred and holy are to be revealed and brought together in this last and most wonderful dispensation. With the Restoration of the gospel, the Church, and the priesthood of Jesus Christ, we hold an almost incomprehensible store of sacred things in our hands.

It is because of the Atonement of Christ that we can recover from bad choices and be justified under the law as if we had not sinned.

Your greatness in the things God has ordained as primary and fundamental will not come in a day or with one grand act. It will be built over time with the sort of patient, persistent effort that has brought you to the achievement that we are celebrating today.

Our test is to learn to serve one another and to attain personal holiness. All the commandments of God tend to one, or usually both of these ends at the same time.

The Lord’s invitation to seek our daily bread at our Heavenly Father’s hand speaks of a loving God, aware of even the small, daily needs of His children and anxious to assist them, one by one.

La invitación del Señor de buscar el pan de cada día de la mano de nuestro Padre Celestial es evidencia de un Dios amoroso, consciente aun de las pequeñas necesidades diarias de Sus hijos, y deseoso de ayudarlos, uno a uno.

With courage, conviction, and civility—drawing upon our noble heritage as Americans—each one of us can make a profound difference.

How we ought to rejoice that this Firstborn Son in the spirit was willing to become the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, to suffer incomprehensibly and die ignominiously to redeem us.

“I know our Heavenly Father’s love for you is real and unending. It is most powerfully manifest through the grace of His Son, Jesus Christ. I bless you that the love of God will envelop you as you love and strive to serve Him.”

Our efforts with respect to spiritual strengthening, intellectual enlargement, character development, and lifelong learning, while worthy ends, are more importantly means and resources enabling us to lose our lives in the service of God and fellowman.

My plea to you today is that you work hard to preserve and wisely exercise your own moral agency in the years ahead, and work equally hard to preserve and provide that same blessing of moral agency to others. Let us all be agents rather than objects.

So the question isn’t, Are you going to crash and burn every once in a while? Of course you are—you are human! In Romans 3:23 we read, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The question is, What are you going to do about it?

It is important to learn how to live in faith rather than in fear because the process of changing for the better is at the very foundation of the Father’s plan for us. Changing for the better is what we are here in this life to do, and it is what the mission of His Son enables us to do.

The successful temple marriage begins when two people want God’s blessings in the way he has ordained. Then our Father in heaven can promise these two everything that he has and deliver it.

As you leave these portals today, thank God reverently for what He has done for you, for the blessings that have been yours, for the work He has given you to do, for the strength He has bestowed upon you to do it, for the truth He has let you garner.

That is what we need: leaders with integrity, energy, inspiration, wisdom, and courage… I believe that if you heed the Lord’s call to be the light of the world, you will be those leaders.

The message is clear: Whether in prosperity or in adversity, if we are not diligent and faithful, even the elect of God, even those greatly blessed by the Lord, can fall prey to the Great Lie and become hard-hearted, self-absorbed, stiff-necked, and puffed up in their pride.

This is the Lord’s way. He asks us to do things that seem impossible or even unwise. He asks us to build ships that no one has ever built before and to go places that no one has ever gone before.

My dear brothers and sisters, with all my heart I invite you to follow Jesus Christ and embrace Heavenly Father’s great plan of salvation. I use the word embrace because I want you to accept the plan gladly and eagerly—to adopt it into your life fully and completely.

Guided by personal revelation, the creative art of living and becoming requires our full attention and intention to “Yes, and . . .” because that is magic—where the unexpected not only happens but creates something we could have never done on our own.

If you want to be happy, feel the Holy Ghost, and grow closer to the Savior, then practice pure religion.

Tonight, I have come to testify in behalf of Jesus Christ. How you accept him and how valiant you are in your testimony of him will have an enormous compounding impact upon the Church.

I gained an appreciation for my value as a human being by realizing what it cost him to purchase my salvation.

Our love for the Lord should be our greatest motivation to live righteously. When we have a knowledge of and feeling for his suffering, how can we consciously contribute to that suffering through choosing to commit sin?

Let us not be ashamed of our singularity. Let us celebrate the “dignity of difference” in our standards of behavior.

I submit that a prerequisite for dealing in any way with adversaries is to love them. A wonderful side effect of living this principle is that it invites the Spirit to teach us how to handle the situation. Hatred and contempt are not consonant with the presence of the Spirit.

May your lives be your promised lands, worthy in every way for the promised blessings of heaven. With those blessings, may you find a promised land wherever you are, wherever you go, and all the time.

In what at first may seem ironic, our choosing to bind or connect with heaven frees and empowers us to become all that we possibly can in this life and the next through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

If we have true faith in our Redeemer, we do something about it, because we have real intent.

The joy is not in arriving, but in getting better each time a new challenge is thrown your way, each time you learn in a new situation.

In my experience, for an activity to build character it must be inherently good, it must require concerted effort, and it must demand perseverance over an extended period of time. Language study meets all three of these ­character-building prerequisites.

Friendship is one of the greatest blessings we can have. Our friends provide comfort and counsel. They accept—or at least tolerate—our peculiarities and often laugh spontaneously at our jokes. Most of all, they are really quite forgiving of our imperfections.

“I hope you will seek holiness, seek learning, seek revelation, seek the best gifts, seek Christlike exemplars, and, above all, ‘seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written.’”

“But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.” [Moroni 7:47]

Your testimony is your most valuable possession, and someone is trying to steal it from you. Can you imagine what your testimony would be like if you fought for it with the same tenacity with which you fight for other things in life?

I invoke the blessings of heaven upon each and every one of you of the rising generation and pray that your righteous thoughts and deeds will overcome any susceptible disposition to do evil and that the Holy Spirit will be your constant companion in helping you to develop a disposition to do good continually.

“The thing is, we never know what blessings await us when we are asked to endure or when they will come, only that they will assuredly come.”

The antidote for pride is humility. It is humbling ourselves and putting God’s will above our own, seeking what He wants instead of what we want and aligning our will with His.

“May you seek after happiness by following the Lord.”