Indeed this is a time for reflection on activities of the past, and for resolution pertaining to the future. This evening is a real milestone—the first Sabbath day of new semester, of a new year, and of a new decade.

I used to think that faith in God came in the form of feeling certain that life would be as I wanted it to be. I have grown to understand that to have ultimate faith in God is to know he is with us and will give us unfailing strength to help us through life’s challenges.

“We must, like the prodigal son, arise and go to our father and be prepared for that resplendent reunion.”

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

“There are valleys as well as peaks, broken bones as well as victory feasts, exhaustion as well as jubilation.”

“Never be satisfied with where you are. Always be reaching out to make the world a better place, to make your sacrifice for the benefit of your fellowmen.”

Many of us are trying to save ourselves, holding the Atonement of Jesus Christ at arm’s distance and saying, “When I’ve done it, when I’ve perfected myself, when I’ve made myself worthy, then I’ll be worthy of the Atonement.

Yours is a future without limit because you have decided to be unwavering in obedience to the Lord.

“When we don’t use our arms, we lose the use of our muscles. So it is with our talents and testimonies in our lives.”

“We don’t have to have personal experience with the effects of serious transgressions to know that they are destructive of our eternal welfare.”

“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.”

“The teacher’s work, especially here at Karl Maeser’s school, is a deeply satisfying labor, with students and books and papers that bless us all the days God lets us live. What a good way to spend our lives.”

“The only constant across the entire time period has been our commitment to our unique combination of things spiritual with things secular.”

Serve and grow, faithfully and quietly. Be on guard regarding the praise of men.

“I strongly believe that one of the best barometers by which you can measure whether you are taking advantage of what BYU uniquely offers is your activity in your ward or other congregation.”

There will be a day for you and me when, whatever difficulties and limitations we have here, we will have that promise fulfilled for us. We will be lifted up as on eagles’ wings, and it will be those who have waited upon the Lord.

“We can offer our own witness of the truth, quietly, sincerely, honestly, but never in a manner that will give offense to others.”

“But the highest and most important use of the mind is to lead us to peace in this life and exaltation in the world to come.”

“If any of you are burdened with sin and sorrow, transgression and guilt, then unload your wagon and fill it with obedience, faith, and hope, and a regular renewal of your covenants with God.”

Living in accord with these twelve standards will help us be worthy standard-bearers of the Lord. Then we can be his means of serving our fellowmen.

“I am satisfied that whatever else may eventually hang in the constitutional balance, this much is clear: The continuation of the blessings of liberty depends finally on our spiritual righteousness.”

“May we be fervent enough in our faith and love of the Lord and his work that we will be more than passive camp followers in our Church membership.”

“Each of us must accommodate the mixture of reason and revelation in our lives. The gospel not only permits but requires it. An individual who concentrates on either side solely and alone will lose both balance and perspective.”

“Each year there are new examples of coincidences—I call them miracles—that further our ties and our friendship with China and its people.”

Oh, how we adore Jesus for his atonement! For his free gift of immortality to all!

But what constitutes righteous judgment, and who qualifies to make it? Simon, or the elder son? Martha, or the Pharisees, or me, or you? While there are many things we must make judgments about, the sins of another or the state of our own souls in comparison to others seems not to be among them.

I’m concerned that so often the Saints inadvertently label others in our ward families as “them,” somehow not like “us.”

“We should learn to tolerate those we disagree with, and to honor them, as God demonstrated in his councils. We must learn not to honor sin, but to honor people attempting to understand and apply truth.”

“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.”

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

“May we lay down our lives for those sheep, a day at a time, in a service that partakes of the most honorable cause that ever graced the pages of human existence.”

“I will also at this time express my conviction that we are engaged here at BYU in something very worthwhile, something that has both intellectual and also spiritual dimensions of great significance for us and our students.”

“If you can feel what it is like to be a student and feel their pains and afflictions, you can make a great difference, a moral difference, in how they feel about who they really are and what they can become.”

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

“Most important, never forget to get on your knees and ask your Heavenly Father to point you in the right direction.”

“I can think of no better lesson that all of us could learn from our experience at BYU than the importance of genuinely caring for our neighbor.”

“Now, since we know the Lord loves all of his children, we need to inquire whether our being here at this time with these blessings is by chance or whether there might be a purpose to it.”

“A choice to be good—even with the trials that come, or perhaps because of the trials that come—will allow the Atonement to change your heart.”

It is worthy to make resolutions regarding our behavior, goals, or pursuits. Such resolutions become mileposts to guide our lives, now and later. They will lead us past the kind of transitory fads that evaporate like the morning dew in the heat of the sun.

But if I could turn back the clock, would I also have to trade in what I have learned? I wouldn’t want to give that part back. Always having our first choice might mean giving up unknown benefits.

Our ability to maintain ourselves in the face of changing circumstances and a changing world will depend principally on our ability to build our house on those things that do not change.

Sinless and flawless as Jesus was in mortality, we should remember that he viewed his own state of physical perfection as being yet in the future (see Luke 13:32). Even he had to endure to the end. Can you and I be expected to do any less?

Learn to appreciate the power and potential in your heads. Get out of your comfort zone! Expand your vision! Experience the satisfaction that comes from real, earned accomplishment.

It was their beliefs and the motivation that came therefrom that pulled them through. Everyone of us is largely the product of his or her beliefs. Our behavior is governed by these. They become our standards of conduct.

Brothers and sisters, I salute you for the many small charitable acts you do that mean so much to others. I hope this Relief Society sesquicentennial year will be the time when you decide your life will be something extraordinary.

We are of infinite value and worth to Christ. As we love him, have faith in him, and desire to be like him, he is the one who will change us, perfect us, and bring us home. Then he will give us all that he hath. How could we want for anything else?

A person who engages in self-congratulation over a supposed strength has lost the protection of humility and is vulnerable to Satan’s using that strength to produce his or her downfall.

Because our tribulations unfold in real time, the only way out, alas, is through. This means we must endure not only our hardships but the ordeal of anxiety within the ordeal; it means we must live on promises and walk by faith.

We, too, must choose whether we will serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or follow the gods of indulgence and sin that clamor for our attention on every side.

Latter-day Saints should have all the genuine excitement others have in the traditional adventure of learning, including learning secular truths—and we, of all people, should have a little more!

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.

BYU is unique among American universities because it incorporates the restored gospel as an integral part of its academic program. It is also true that both our uniqueness and also our effectiveness are enhanced to the extent that we use the Restoration to inform what we do academically.

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.

They fulfill their dreams by coming to this oasis of learning in a spiritually parched world, yearning to ask the young ruler’s question: What shall I do? And they come believing that the faculty and staff here will tell them what to do.

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.

If only we could realize that the momentary pleasure we might feel by an act of disobedience can never be equal to the feelings of peace and happiness that result from obedience.

Remember the Brazilian butterflies. What you as an individual can do may not be much, but it is something; and when aggregated with what others are doing, the increment can be significant.

Trust and accountability are two great words by which we must guide our lives if we are to live beyond ourselves and rise to higher planes of service.

As you examine the memorabilia you have put into your book of life, will you find the ones prescribed by the Lord in being obedient to his laws?

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.

“At times when I feel overwhelmed or alone, unsure or defeated, I remember that I have a Savior who understands and loves me. His atonement was personal; it was for me. He knows. He understands.”

“Selective attitudes—particularly when combined with the truths of the restored gospel—affect the quality of life itself.”

“A timid, fearing people cannot do their work well, and they cannot do God’s work at all.”

“Your precious identity deserves your precious integrity! Guard it as the priceless prize that it is.”

“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.”

“Under the influence of his spirit our sympathies and love for our eternal companion will deepen, and we will come to know a happiness and contentment in marriage that the world will never know.”

“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.”

The subject I believe we have neglected is the Book of Mormon’s witness of the divinity and mission of Jesus Christ and our covenant relationship to him.

“The Holy Spirit shall come to you—this afternoon, tomorrow, or the day after. And when he comes, be grateful, honor his presence, heed his admonitions, and he shall abide with you.”

“It is for this reason you have come to this institution—to learn how to take this intelligence, knowledge, and experience to gain wisdom and learn understanding in your hearts in order to help you keep the commandments.”

“On this campus you have engaged texts and teachers. In the temple you can engage and commune with the intimate and ultimate Creator.”

“While there is much of value to be learned, there is only one arena of study where we may learn absolute truth—and that is centered in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

“The Lord speaks of a solemn assembly where the laborers for Zion may purify themselves so that he by his atoning power may make them clean.”

“Over the past year perhaps more than at any other time I have understood and appreciated that while we are many, we are also one.”

“Those of little faith frequently mistake local cloud cover for general darkness.”

“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.”

“You will find that he knew the way and wanted to share it with you. And you will have confirmed to you that he was the perfect example in mentoring, as he is in all service that brings real value.”

“What we will take with us—to the degree we have developed them—will be the cardinal qualities that Jesus has perfected; these are eternal and portable.”

You will not be able to travel through life on borrowed light. The light of life must be part of your very being. The voice you must learn to heed is the voice of the Spirit.

“Usually the road to victory involves encountering a great many mistakes. The Lord wants us to learn from our mistakes because that is how we become strong. He does not expect us to be perfect, just to keep trying.”

“There will be adequate opportunities for unavoidable error and disappointment; we need not reach out affirmatively to create them.”

“We must continually be thinking about our preparation for the time of the harvest. Our challenge is to protect the tender plants among the tares that choke out and leave us no credit or return for a life of toil.”

“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.”

“Shortcuts only deflect us from the narrow trail. Travel light, be kind to everyone, hear with your heart when someone needs you.”

So many issues that revolve around the subject of self fade like the dew in the sun as one cultivates faith in the Savior.

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?

You may well doubt that you can have much effect on the people around you. But you will have help.