I can remember only one occasion in all the opportunities I\u2019ve had to speak in which they actually raised the podium before I spoke. I\u2019m reminded of the first talk I ever gave as a member of a stake presidency eleven and a half years ago. I stood up to the podium and then asked the other counselor and the president to stand next to me. They were both over six feet tall, and I\u2019m not quite six feet tall\u2014I\u2019m five foot something. The whole congregation burst out laughing, which is the reaction I expected, because then I quoted one of my favorite scriptures: \u201cAnd thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things\u201d (1 Nephi 16:29). That\u2019s actually an underlying theme for my remarks, because I speak today of the unique opportunities that come with living at this time in this dispensation. When I walk the sidewalks of this campus I am often impressed with the innate goodness that radiates from you. There is divine purpose in people of your caliber being on the earth during times like these.<\/p>\n
I begin by bearing my testimony that the man who stood at this pulpit two weeks ago, even President Thomas S. Monson, is God\u2019s prophet for this time. My hope is to expound upon his words by following the dictates of that same Spirit that directed him.<\/p>\n
When I joined the Church at the end of my junior year in high school, I set three goals for myself:<\/p>\n
1. Marry the woman of my dreams in the holy temple and create an eternal family.<\/p>\n
2. Go to BYU to become a teacher.<\/p>\n
3. Serve a full-time mission.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how I have fared so far.<\/p>\n
Over thirty-five years ago I asked a wonderful woman to take a chance on me. I had to ask her twice, and fortunately she said yes the second time. Kim is accompanying me today, along with some of our children, their spouses, and some of our grandchildren.<\/p>\n
I have been privileged to obtain not one but two degrees at this institution and to spend thirty-two years of my professional life dedicated to the education of children. Part of those thirty-two years have been spent here\u2014an opportunity that I could scarcely have imagined at the time I set my original goals. I love this institution.<\/p>\n
Concerning my third goal, two years after joining the Church I was called to serve a mission in Australia\u2014the context for which I will use to set the stage for the remainder of my remarks.<\/p>\n
President Thomas S. Monson said recently:<\/p>\n
I repeat what prophets have long taught\u2014that every worthy, able young man should prepare to serve a mission. Missionary service is a priesthood duty\u2014an obligation the Lord expects of us who have been given so very much.<\/i> [\u201cAs We Meet Together Again<\/a>,\u201dEnsign, <\/i>November 2010, 5\u20136]<\/p>\n This doctrine has been taught since at least 1974. President Spencer W. Kimball said:<\/p>\n The question is frequently asked: Should every young man fill a mission? And the answer has been given by the Lord. It is \u201cYes.\u201d Every young man should fill a mission. . . .<\/i><\/p>\n . . . Every man should also pay his tithing. Every man should observe the Sabbath. Every man should attend his meetings. Every man should marry in the temple. <\/i>[\u201cWhen the World Will Be Converted,\u201d Ensign, <\/i>October 1974, 8]<\/p>\n I remember hearing those words for the first time as a freshman here at BYU. I had been told previously that not every young man was allowed to serve a mission, even if he wanted to, so when I heard President Kimball\u2019s prophetic words, I felt assured that I would be able to accomplish my goal. Yes, I get to serve a mission!<\/p>\n I have often pondered that period of my life in the context of the larger picture provided by the history of this dispensation. When the early members of the Church faced extreme difficulties traversing this continent, they were responding to the counsel of a living prophet. Although they recognized the reasons why they were doing so, I doubt very many of them thought about the legacy they were leaving behind for future generations as they pulled a handcart over a troublesome rock, faced early winters, or coaxed tired oxen to continue forward. I also doubt that they could have predicted that they would be known and honored by future generations of this dispensation in the manner we remember and honor them now.<\/p>\n I have wondered what my generation will be known for in this final gospel dispensation. Perhaps we might be known, among other things, as the generation that responded to the call of a prophet that every young man should serve a mission\u2014a response requiring great sacrifice on the part of both young men and young women and their families. History records that as a result of this sacrifice there was an almost immediate doubling of the full-time missionary force.<\/p>\n Now I ask you, what might your generation be known for?<\/p>\n Because \u201cit must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things\u201d (2 Nephi 2:11), as righteousness grows in the earth so does wickedness. It is as President Brigham Young said:<\/p>\n The devil is just as much opposed to Jesus now as he was when the revolt took place in heaven. And as the devil increases his numbers by getting the people to be wicked, so Jesus Christ increases his numbers and strength by getting the people to be humble and righteous. <\/i>[JD <\/i>4:38]<\/p>\n I suggest the amount of wickedness and<\/i> the degree of wickedness are both increasing in our time. This means that staying on the Lord\u2019s side is becoming increasingly difficult, and nowhere is this difficulty more apparent than in the adversary\u2019s attacks on the family.<\/p>\n President Spencer W. Kimball said:<\/p>\n Many of the social restraints which in the past have helped to reinforce and to shore up the family are dissolving and disappearing. The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us.<\/i> [\u201cFamilies Can Be Eternal<\/a>,\u201d Ensign,<\/i> November 1980, 4]<\/p>\n Two years later President Kimball described why this commitment to the kingdom in general and to the family specifically is of greater importance than merely preserving our own families. He said:<\/p>\n We must not falter nor weary in well-doing. We must lengthen our stride. Not only is our own eternal welfare at stake, but also the eternal welfare of many of our brothers and sisters who are not now members of this, the true Church.<\/i> [\u201cThe Lord Expects Righteousness<\/a>,\u201d Ensign, <\/i>November 1982, 6]<\/p>\n Our Father has consistently demonstrated an ability to produce good results from difficult circumstances. When the people of Ammon saw their unconverted brethren preparing for war, this was their reaction:<\/p>\n Now there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war. . . .<\/i><\/p>\n . . . And all the people . . . assembled together, . . . took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man\u2019s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth. . . .<\/i><\/p>\n Now when the people saw that <\/i>[the Lamanites] were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword.<\/i><\/p>\n And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them. <\/i>[Alma 24:6, 17, 21\u201322]<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s pause for a minute. Would you pay good money to see a movie in which the good guys get mowed down and slaughtered? This event is not exactly what I would call a happy Hollywood ending. Now listen for the hand of the Lord in the commentary relative to this event:<\/p>\n Now when the Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the sword, neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but that they would lie down and perish, and<\/i> <\/sup>praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword\u2014<\/i><\/p>\n Now when the Lamanites saw this they did<\/i> <\/sup>forbear from slaying them; and there were many whose hearts had swollen in them for those of their brethren who had fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done.<\/i><\/p>\n And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which they had committed; and they came down even as their brethren, relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them.<\/i><\/p>\n And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved. <\/i>[Alma 24:23\u201326]<\/p>\n Pondering that event enables me to believe more fully in a prophecy of Nephi. He described a natural consequence of increasingly difficult times that similarly testifies of the hand of the Lord:<\/p>\n For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish.<\/i> [2 Nephi 28:19]<\/p>\n Elder Neal A. Maxwell called this shaking of the devil\u2019s kingdom \u201credemptive turbulence.\u201d He said:<\/p>\n It is a very intriguing verse. . . . It will be such that a few people now caught up in <\/i>[the] kingdom of the devil will be \u201cstirred up\u201d and find their way out and into the kingdom of God. . . . There will be in this redemptive turbulence some jarring inconsistencies brought to the fore\u2014jarring enough that they will cause some people who are caught up in the <\/i>[kingdoms of the world] to leave and find the truth. <\/i>[\u201cSharing Insights from My Life<\/a>,\u201d BYU devotional address, 12 January 1999]<\/p>\n In other words, some people will tire of the natural consequences of living a worldly lifestyle\u2014indeed, of living \u201cwithout God in the world\u201d\u2014and seek for a better way of life. They will then ask, as we sing in Emma Lou Thayne\u2019s touching hymn \u201cWhere Can I Turn for Peace?\u201d:<\/p>\n Where can I turn for peace?<\/i> Where, when my aching grows,<\/i> You and I know the answer to those questions: \u201cHe, only One\u201d (Hymns,<\/i> 2002, no. 129).<\/p>\n 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\u2019s invitation to \u201ccome ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers [or catchers] of men\u201d (Mark 1:17; see also Luke 5:10). We must be ready to answer as Jesus answered when those shaken by redemptive turbulence wish to know if there is a better way to live\u2014\u201cCome and see\u201d (John 1:39).<\/p>\n In probably the most often-quoted scriptural verses relating to example and light shining, I invite you to listen for four different candle-bearing conditions:<\/p>\n Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.<\/i><\/p>\n Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house;<\/i><\/p>\n Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. <\/i>[3 Nephi 12:14\u201316]<\/p>\n Our Lord explicitly, or implicitly, alludes to four different candle-bearing conditions in these verses. First, there are candles that are never lit. Second, there are lit candles that are lit but are deliberately hidden away under a bushel. You and I know what happens to lit candles placed under containers. Third, there are lit candles that are not hidden, but they aren\u2019t really placed in a position in which their light is very visible either. Fourth\u2014and this is the condition the Lord desires\u2014there are candles placed in locations, like hills, that optimize their enlightening capabilities.<\/p>\n Elder Bruce R. McConkie encouraged us to \u201cstand as lights and guides to the people\u201d around us (\u201cThe Coming Tests and Trials and Glory<\/a>,\u201d Ensign,<\/i> May 1980, 72). And may we remember that \u201cwe must be different in order to make a difference\u201d in a darkening world (Neal A. Maxwell, Deposition of a Disciple<\/i> [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976], 55).<\/p>\n Thus, as insignificant as we feel our lights can be, they become brighter simply by contrast as the darkening occurs. Nowhere is that contrast more apparent than in our unwavering commitment to the family.<\/i><\/p>\n If you will set your light on a hill, President Spencer W. Kimball has promised, \u201cI feel the Lord has placed, in a very natural way within our circles of friends and acquaintances, many persons who are ready to enter into his Church\u201d (\u201cFirst Presidency Message: Are We Doing All We Can?<\/a>\u201d Ensign<\/i>, February 1983, 4).<\/p>\n President Thomas S. Monson said two weeks ago:<\/p>\n Our opportunities to shine are limitless. They surround us each day, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. As we follow the example of the Savior, ours will be the opportunity to be a light, as it were, in the lives of those around us\u2014whether they be our own family members, our coworkers, mere acquaintances or total strangers. <\/i>[\u201cBe a Light to the World,\u201d<\/i> BYU devotional address, 1 November 2011]<\/p>\n Recently, a good friend in the McKay School of Education told me of his conversion. It began when he was an undergraduate in Rhode Island. When he asked a non-LDS faculty mentor where he might consider applying to graduate school, the mentor suggested, with no apparent explanation, that he attend a university somewhere in Utah. He applied to and was accepted at Utah State in Logan. Over time he noticed that he naturally gravitated toward certain USU faculty and later observed that every one of those faculty were Latter-day Saints. Their influence is why he is now a member, sealed in an eternal family unit.<\/p>\n In Sioux City, Iowa, I worked as a janitor before my mission. One evening a coworker who was more than twice my age approached me and said, \u201cYou are different.\u201d My kids would say that\u2019s no revelation, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what he meant. He said, \u201cWhen I am around you I feel something.\u201d My young friends, when I am around you, I feel something too.<\/p>\n President James E. Faust described a similar experience:<\/p>\n
\nWhere is my solace<\/i>
\nWhen other sources cease to make me whole?<\/i>
\nWhen with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,<\/i>
\nI draw myself apart,<\/i>
\nSearching my soul?<\/i><\/p>\n
\nWhere, when I languish,<\/i>
\nWhere, in my need to know, where can I run?<\/i>
\nWhere is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?<\/i>
\nWho, who can understand?<\/i><\/p>\n