If we are looking, we will see the caring hands of the Gardener of Gethsemane shaping our lives in ways we cannot now imagine. I pray that we might yield to this pruning so that we can become the people God would have us be.

“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.”

You are a vital part of this gathering. You have something to gain from and something to offer in your interactions with those around you.

“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.”

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.

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

In this life we know only in part, and in fact the more I learn, the more I see that I do not know. But I also believe that God knows us completely, that in our uncertainty we can accept God’s love for us as certain and constant.

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.

“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.”

Feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost works both ways: the Holy Ghost only dwells in a clean temple, and the reception of the Holy Ghost cleanses us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. You can pray with faith to know what to do to be cleansed and thus qualified for the companionship of the Holy Ghost and the service of the Lord.

In the doctrines of the Church, faith and the quest for knowledge are not inconsistent; they are compatible and complementary.

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.

National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones described the difference between being the best in the world and being the best for the world. To be the best in the world, all of the attention is focused on the individual. To be the best for the world, the attention is focused on others.

Remember Jesus’ own words on the night He was betrayed: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In a world where we are trained to expect the worst, Gregg Easterbrook shares research concerning the potential for a positive future global economy.

We are taught to honor and celebrate those great men who wrote and voted for the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. But none of what they committed themselves to … none of that would have been worth any more than the paper it was written on had it not been for those who were fighting to make it happen.

To assist you in living lives of service, let me suggest three essential principles: First, help others succeed. Second, learn and develop your own talents and value the talents of others. Third, obtain a spirit of serving and giving.

You may not be asked to face death in the service He requires of you, but you will be asked to love and to sacrifice for a lifetime. And you will be blessed by your faithful and loving Master beyond what you would have asked of Him. And, above all, you will, as the faithful servant, become His friend.

No matter what the outer conditions are, keep spirits high and just persevere. Personal righteousness, responsibility, discipline, and devotion are requirements for final achievements.

You will be able to do and accomplish so much that I will only add to the other advice you have received: live the principles of the gospel.

“It is my prayer that each of us will accept the goal that our Heavenly Father has set as our guiding and overall goal—immortality and eternal life with him.”

You and the Lord, working together, can accomplish anything. Never forget—God did not put us here to fail.

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.”

I hope that as I speak, you will contemplate the many ways that God loves you. As I conclude today, I will ask you a question: “So what are you going to do?”

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.

I’m suggesting that we seek to experience contentment while we work toward godliness—that we remember and appreciate all that God and Christ have done for us.

If we can understand the law of love—for God, for others, and for ourselves—we will be able to follow all of the rest of the commandments and teachings in the scriptures and from latter-day prophets.

More important than what you do as a student are the choices you are making in your personal life—the priorities you are adopting consciously or subconsciously. Are you going forward against the world’s opposition?

Great blessings come when the faithful endure adversity.

It is my view that athletics can and must foster the building of character, create and develop faith, and build men and women imbued with spiritual strength and courage.

There is another name by which we should all be known besides the one we received from our earthly fathers. That is the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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.

If we can truly gather together in the spirit of unity and look to our Savior for guidance, we can tap into power and knowledge that can only be gained by employing this gospel methodology.

When we learn to love each other and have respect for our different abilities, we prepare ourselves to live in a celestial order. Each person edifies the other, and then the whole can become a Zion society.

The development of empathetic thinking and feeling that a legal education can promote may contribute to the development of our ability to love as the Savior loves and to truly possess charity, a central and essential celestial attribute.

Brothers and sisters, gratitude is a heavenly, spiritual gift and a spiritual force in our lives. May we have hearts that can feel, ears that can hear, and eyes that can see our blessings and live in continual gratitude toward God and those around us.

Whether we are right in the middle of a global pandemic, experiencing devastating loss and grief, or we are experiencing the joyful moments of life, we must never forget to express gratitude.

“A commitment to endure to the end means that we will not ask for a release from a call to serve.”

All of you are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. He loves you and has given you many blessings to help you build a testimony of Him and His teachings. Find your gifts and talents, acknowledge them in the spirit of thankfulness, develop them, and use them to serve others as well as His kingdom.

We are not justified if we “pass by on the other side,” hurrying to our priesthood meetings or to the temple or to do visiting teaching or anything else if there is something at hand we should do that the Lord wants done. I don’t think we should or need to choose between serving God and serving our fellowmen.

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.

Actually, my young friends, the period of your preparation did not begin the day you walked into your first college or university classes. It began long before you ever came to mortality, when we lived as spirit children of our Heavenly Father.

Our great expectation for you is that you will love, serve, and worship the Savior and that you will bless the world like no other generation.

In this first dispensation we learn that we are sons and daughters of an Eternal Father and have the right to communicate with Him through prayer and receive answers through inspiration and revelation. Included in our life’s plan should be constant and regular communication with the Father of all.

We Latter-day Saints must realize that the restoration of the gospel was a mighty drama, the first steps having been taken long before Joseph Smith. If God was going to restore the gospel in the last days, where would it take place and under what conditions?

I wish you every success and hope your wildest and fondest dreams come true. Clearly you are the hope of our nation, our church, and your families.

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.

We don’t have to be perfect—after all we can do, the Savior does the rest. When we repent we choose to be changed, to be spiritually stronger, and to come closer to the Savior.

In making this choice, please remember the father who sought healing for his son. The Savior reminded him that belief, or faith, was key. Said He, ”If thou canst believe, all things are ­possible to him that believeth.”

I testify to you today that turning away from God brings broken covenants, shattered dreams, and crushed hopes. Such a quagmire of quicksand I plead with you to avoid. You are of a noble birthright. Eternal life in the kingdom of our Father is your goal.