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

Therefore, go; go humbly to serve. Work hard, be honest, and be reliable. I testify to you that you will be blessed and success will be yours.

Can we not build dream castles in the air and build foundations solidly under them?

You may have thought that you are here at this university to take a certain series of courses, obtain a degree, and then leave learning behind. If so, you do not fully understand. God desires the flourishing of your whole soul for the glories He has in mind for you, including an eternal family with children who will shine as jewels in His crown and yours, and that is why He intends to bless you, if you will exert yourself, with a soul-stretching education.

“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.”

Here we are in these beautiful temples of learning with qualified teachers, countless books, and resources. All of this and the Spirit, too. May we each receive the knowledge that is here. Use it in wisdom to unlock eternal opportunities.

We must strive for mutual understanding and treat all with goodwill. We must exercise patience. We should all speak out for religion and the importance of religious freedom. We must, above all, trust in God and His promises.

It is possible, because of Him, to have peace deep within our souls when all about there is confusion, tumult, and temptation.

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.

For me, these kinds of paradigm-shifting moments triggered by a facing of truth are ­fundamental to the real BYU experience. Indeed, they help me understand the words of Christ when He said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Empathy is an essential ingredient for all positive interpersonal relationships. If we couldn’t at least imagine what it feels like to be in someone else’s shoes or skin, we wouldn’t be able to connect; we would live our lives in isolation.

Our service to God’s children is a visible sign of our love for Him. As we willingly serve others, we become a conduit through which His love flows to touch the lives of everyone around us.

The awareness of God’s love for us, of His unreserved guidance and support, should inspire us to likewise extend our reach to those who look to us for direction and relief.

The Lord’s firm assurance to the Prophet was laden with profound implications for the future of missionary work in the Church. Joseph must have wondered, even if he did not doubt, how the great prophecies and promises made to and through him were to be fulfilled if he were separated from the Church.

“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.”

It is possible to reach your goals if you work hard, keep the right perspective, and use your challenges as opportunities to grow and develop.

Joy is the key to our spiritual survival in the trying times in which we live, as well as in the trying times that lie ahead of us.

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.

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

As we elevate ourselves intellectually, spiritually, and in character-building ways, we will encounter new and exciting challenges and opportunities that we have not seen before.

You are part of the Lord’s army. You don’t need to be set apart for that. The call to stand up for the truth is not a Church calling. It is a life calling.

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.

Service is not just connected to joy in some amorphous, general way. Service is an essential part of the refining process that makes true joy possible.

Good work habits are essential to success. This applies to everything we do—from earning a living to the work we do at home, at school, or in church.

I urge you to view things from an eternal perspective—in the light of God’s great plan of salvation. As you do so, your past, present, and future will be more meaningful, more fruitful, and more joyful.

We can’t rely on other people’s testimonies, nor can we place the responsibility of our choices on ­others. President Nelson has entreated us to assume control and become responsible for our own testimony.

The greatest joy is in the peace of knowing that we are following the path that leads us to eternal life, that our house is in order, and that we are preparing to meet our Savior.

I do have a testimony that you can stand up to worldly influences that would draw you away from your beliefs and say, in mighty voices, “Even if all, not I.” Those who see and hear you can know of your testimonies of the Savior and our Father in Heaven.

“God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.” You have knowledge and skill and know how to learn so that you may acquire wisdom.

I believe that each of us can be renewed in mind and spirit as we sincerely seek for those things that money cannot buy.

Our Heavenly Father has provided us with great and marvelous gifts for our journey here in mortality—and for the greatest quest of all: to come unto our Savior and gain eternal life.

We do not have to physically be in the Sacred Grove to receive guidance and instruction from our Heavenly Father. Nevertheless, we must learn the language of the Spirit for ourselves and find our own sacred places in which we personally come to know the things of God by the Spirit of God.

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

Although it may be difficult for us to completely understand the inner workings of the Atonement of the Savior, we nonetheless know everything we need to know to be recipients of its power. The Atonement brings an enabling power into our lives—cleansing us, strengthening us, and buoying us up through the challenges of life that would derail us from the path we are striving to follow.

Hugh Nibley shares some of the words of Brigham Young that demonstrate his unique character and his devotion to the goal of eternal life for the Saints.

I hope seeing an exclamation point will prompt you to look for ways to celebrate the good things that happen in your life and in the lives of others around you.

Addressing our dysfunctional receptors for God’s love restores power, stability, and direction in our lives.

As I interface the sacred and the secular, I am struck by how little my experience of this love is explainable in conventional psychological terms, or, indeed, in any secular terms.

I have given you a sampling of significant occasions that have forever touched my life. They have influenced my thinking and my behavior. They have affected my life in an unforgettable manner. You likewise will have significant experiences.

If we are not afraid, our life experiments can be tools to learn truth and to make changes. The pioneer chemist Marie Curie believed that “nothing in life is to be feared—it is only to be understood.”

By exploring nature’s “curiosity cabinet,” we can not only increase our sense of wonder of the earth but also discover truths that can help solve some of the world’s most serious problems.

When we see each other as daughters and sons of our Heavenly Father, it changes us. Instead we begin to see each other as brothers and sisters with the singular purpose of striving to become ready to return to live with our Heavenly Father.