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

As members of the Church, we must seek truth in all areas, be it spiritual, educational, scientific, or in the social and moral settings of society.

“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.”

Thus, there are certain mortal moments and minutes that matter—certain hinge points in the history of each human. Some seconds are so decisive they shrink the soul, while other seconds are spent so as to stretch the soul.

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.

I have a testimony that assisting our Father in Heaven in teaching children to love and serve the Lord is one of the most important blessings and responsibilities He has given us. The Savior loved and taught the little children, and we are to follow His example.

“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.”

“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.”

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.

We all have meaningful stories to tell. I know we do. If we tell them and let this marvelous generation of computer- and video-literate youth film them, I know we will draw others into tenderly telling their meaningful stories, too.

While love and trust are often linked and even intertwined, there are some very significant differences. We hold unconditional love to be a very high virtue. Trust, on the other hand, is conditional in that it must be earned and can be very easily and quickly forfeited.

The temple is a sacred edifice, a holy place where essential saving ceremonies and ordinances are performed to prepare us for exaltation.

I know of nothing worthwhile in life that comes easy. However, nothing in life is as valuable as a strong marriage and a secure family. I am speaking to all who want their future marriages to succeed.

If we show tenacious faith and are prepared to lose ourselves in service, our Father in Heaven will prepare the way for us to accomplish all that He asks of us. I pray that we can be instruments in our Father in Heaven’s hands in doing His will and that we will find great and eternal joy in His service.

There is nothing more discouraging than knowing what you should do and then procrastinating performance and missing the opportunity. There is nothing more invigorating than knowing what you should do and then getting about doing it.

God not only lives, He loves us. He loves you. Everything He does is for our good and our protection. There is evil and sorrow in the world, but there is no evil or harm in Him.

Maybe it is making your next tuition payment, choosing a new roommate, finding a summer internship, or even getting a date for Saturday night. Perhaps, though, your wicked problem is more complex—maybe it is a bit trickier.

Each has to receive his own witness concerning Jesus as the Christ. I wish this morning to set my seal upon this knowledge.

Gratefully add to your list of blessings thanks for the covenant—the Abrahamic covenant—by which you will be vital and precious participants in God’s promise to bless all the nations of the earth through that choice seed.

“The two most important decisions you will make in this life are the kind of person you choose for a mate and the kind of person you choose to be as a mate.”

We are indebted to the Lord, and I trust that as we approach Thanksgiving Day, we will make it more than a day of recreation and pleasure by reflecting on what we owe the Lord for the blessings that are ours.

An education that edifies does not destroy innocence but pushes back ignorance. It does not eradicate faith but enables educated believers to articulate reasons for the hope that is in them.

The scriptures themselves are our best sources on learning and teaching—the Savior being the perfect model of a learner/teacher.

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.

Our greatest performance is when we take time to give of ourselves in love, one for another, often away from the crowd.

We have all had and will continue to have significant opportunities to choose how we will respond to our situations. Hopefully we will choose to follow the counsel of President Thomas S. Monson: “Let us relish life as we live it [and] find joy in the journey.”

The realities of living in our limited, imperfect world mean that we have no choice but to make do with an approximation—to admit and accept imperfection.

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

Technology provides the means for communicating the good news of the gospel and its theology to the inhabitants of the world and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the operation of the Church.

Reverberating through all eternity, all creation exults: “In Christ there is always hope.” I know whereof I speak.

The Spirit will help you remember that our potential is beyond our present capacity. We cannot attain it in our current condition and we cannot attain it on our own. We need help. We need a helper. We need Jesus, who is our Helper.

I have spoken of rules or laws as essential elements in our decision to choose life. But they themselves are not the end we seek. They are the means for helping us to achieve it. The end is eternal life.

Our challenge then is to overcome our natural-man reluctance to interact with those who come from different languages, dialects, and cultural backgrounds and to treat them as no more strangers but actual, or potential, fellow citizens with the Saints in the household of God.

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.

There is so much to learn. So be curious. Keep your sense of wonder about the world. We have been given a great promise over and over again. Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find.

“With the charge divinely given, with blessings divinely promised, we shall go forward, my brethren and sisters, and the Lord will open the way before us.”

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.

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.

Life will be hard but wonderful. You will be tested, but you will win. Enjoy the process of life. And in a lot of years you will look back and realize you have had a wonderful one.

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.

I suggest that you carefully examine the thinking habits and dispositions that function in your life.

“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.”

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.

I believe you are the hope of things to come in the sciences, the home, politics, technology, medicine, engineering, the arts, and society as a whole. There is no better time than today to catch—then realize—the vision of your possibilities.

“These are students. This is why we exist. This is the primary focus of our mission.”

This earth life is so short in the eternal scheme, but it determines so much. It is our “day of opportunity.” Use it well and you will have opportunities you never dreamed of.

I add my testimony to that of Nephi. I know that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ and that this is the way.

This nation has a spiritual foundation—a prophetic history.

I hope we will commit ourselves today and continue this commitment throughout our lives to contribute in every way that we can to building the kingdom of God on earth and also in supporting our alma mater.

God does live and loves us as the Eternal Father He is. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and His effectuation of the Atonement makes all things possible for those who fully take upon themselves His name, make and keep sacred covenants, and do their very best to keep and obey the commandments.

“The gospel is true in that it will yield to us from those principles, according to the way we think and act and feel, those things which have been promised to us.”

The reasons behind our choices matter. And each of us individually is in charge of determining what those reasons are. May we all have the courage to allow the love of God to govern the thoughts and desires of our hearts and embark upon the path of spiritual rebirth that makes it possible.

“I am old enough to bear witness of a God who thinks “peace” regarding us and not ‘evil,’ of a God who will ‘hearken’ unto every single one of us in our times of need.”

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.

We all have the need to know the processes by which we recoup what we could be and could have, had we chosen more wisely. So these are the three basics: Atonement, Agency, and Accountability.

Today I pray earnestly that all of us may open wide the three gates of which I have spoken—the Gate of Preparation, the Gate of Performance, and the Gate of Service—and walk through them to our exaltation.

God grant that we may all believe and know and understand the great eternal verities by which salvation comes and that, believing and knowing and understanding, we may so live as to gain eternal life.

What does spiritual thriving mean to me? Very simply, it means seeking, recognizing, and enjoying experiences with the Spirit of God.

“Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.” I reaffirm this promise given by the Lord in the early days of the Restoration of this Church. I pray that each of us will have the privilege of enjoying righteous friendships and mentoring relationships as we grow together in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the end the BYU Mission Statement calls on us to “have a strong effect on the course of higher education” and to “be an influence in a world we wish to improve.” In this, our uniqueness can be an asset.

In the midst of our adversity, it may be tempting to think that God has not fulfilled His promises. But we do not lean for repose on desired outcomes. As the song says, we lean for repose on Jesus, who will not desert us to our foes, though all hell may shake around us.

May we really cultivate that power to say to our Heavenly Father, “O Lord, thy will be done.”

The great privilege of studying God’s creations builds in its students a reverence for life and a testimony that we are literally created by Deity.

Music is a language that speaks to everyone. Its healing power is expressed by people in every country in the world. Whether we listen to music in church, at home, or in the concert hall, we do it to feel better about our circumstances.

Just like waiting until the clock reads double zero, you have prepared for the proper educational plays, emerged victorious, and received your hard-earned degree.

We know how things in the big picture will turn out and have great confidence that you also in your individual lives and careers will turn out as you wish and as heaven intends.

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.

We should reflect on and glory in the successes, accomplishments, and growth that have occurred while you studied here. Your progress and contributions have been truly remarkable. We should also now be focusing on where we are going in the future, what we will next accomplish, and how we will best continue to learn and grow.

Brothers and sisters, do we relish our time on Earth? Do we have enough purpose in our lives to shake off despair and apathy? President Uchtdorf recently challenged us to prioritize all of the “good” things we do in order to do the best things we can. I have found that on occasion it is healthy for me to step back and contemplate what I really want to gain from this life and the precious time that I have.

The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith means trust—trust in God’s will, trust in His way of doing things, and trust in His timetable. We should not try to impose our timetable on His.

You can learn vitally important things by what you hear and see and, especially, by what you feel, as prompted by the Holy Ghost.

I believe we are placed on this earth to be sanctified. The Lord has declared that His work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” May we focus more consciously on acting in holiness and make it a habit of practice while becoming more mindful of the moments and opportunities in our lives.

I suggest focusing on what really matters. In doing so, you will see that strengthening your spirituality and becoming a spiritually-minded person, though it requires effort and diligence, can be simple. Hold on and keep pedaling!

In these two ways, “to believe on their words” is like borrowing a flame to light a spiritual fire. There is no need to return the flame; no one comes asking for it. We just need to continue to fuel the fire. And those words can become pure revelation that we call our own.

“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.”

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.

Now, let me share a thought for you graduates. You are entering a new phase of life…with this transition in the pursuit of your formal education, you need to continue to focus on becoming the person the Lord needs you to be.

I energetically encourage you to establish a personal plan to better understand and appreciate the incomparable, eternal, infinite consequences of the perfect fulfillment by Jesus Christ of His divinely appointed calling as our Savior and Redeemer. Profound personal pondering of the scriptures accompanied by searching, heartfelt prayer will fortify your understanding of and appreciation for the Atonement.

Brothers and sisters, you are the light of the world and the future mileposts in the timeline of technology. May we recognize a loving Heavenly Father’s hand in the miracles of the technologies around us and remember that He gave them to us to bless us and our families and to advance His purposes.

“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.”

I have found that the best way to live life is to seek to know the will of the Lord as guided by the Holy Spirit. He knows what is best for you.

Coming to know the Savior, learning to hear His voice, and allowing Him to be our Shepherd also requires commitment. This kind of commitment requires all that we have and are.

Because of the Restoration and because of a true and fuller understanding of mankind’s origin and destiny, we know that we are not predestined to anything. Each one of us is in fact foreordained unto salvation and exaltation.

You can learn vitally important things by what you hear and see and, even more, by what you feel, as prompted by the Holy Ghost.

God has given you the capacity to exercise faith so that you may find peace, joy, and purpose in life. However, to employ its power, that faith must be rooted in something secure. There is no more solid foundation than faith in the love Heavenly Father has for you, faith in His plan of happiness, and faith in the willingness and power of Jesus Christ to fulfill all of His promises.

God will guide us as we develop our advocacy skills, and He will provide us with opportunities to be advocates for His children.

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!

As we move forward into the world, we must continue to ask questions, create solutions, and pursue that which enlarges our souls and enlightens our understanding.

I have much to learn, and I am sure that I continue to learn. This is one of the joys of being at Brigham Young University. And, I might add, one of the major reasons for you to be here—not only to learn while you are on campus but to learn how to continue to learn throughout your lives.

Once in my life, I had the feelings of being left out. I now share the companionship of incomparable brotherhood and sisterhood, a feeling of belonging, of being useful, and I recognize that it comes only from sincere striving to live the commandments of the Lord.

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.”