Introduction
Graduates, you look magnificent. We watched your smiles as you walked in. Though I can’t tell from up here if your smiles are really just the sheer relief of being done with finals!! Before today ends, I invite you to thank someone who helped you get here.
Connie and I cherished seeing many of you in the temple this week. Prioritizing the House of the Lord during a week when you don’t have time to sleep or eat, exemplified what President D. Todd Christofferson just taught, “The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we, each of us, can call on the grace of Jesus Christ to help us.” [1]
Graduating Class
At this commencement, BYU–Hawaii will award 538 bachelor’s degrees and ten associate degrees.
Our graduates represent 36 countries, and range in age from 20 to 45 years old.
70% of the graduates being celebrated at this commencement come from outside of the United States, and 30% are from 28 states.
21% of graduates are from Oceania and 41% are from the Asian Rim.
Ninety-five percent of our graduates held at least one job at BYU–Hawaii or the Polynesian Cultural Center during their time here as a student.
These next numbers will make you smile (or cry!) – collectively, you’ve taken over 20,000 classes and that means, twenty…thousand…finals! (Some of you may have felt like you had that many last week!) You have taken nearly 100,000 quizzes and written a quarter of a million pages of papers. By my calculations, that means you’ve done, drum roll please, over 1 million hours of homework. No wonder why you are ready to leave and go change the world.
Today we celebrate your accomplishments. And while we celebrate this conclusion, we also celebrate a beginning—a…commencement!
A Commencement Allegory
In a few minutes the Aloha plaza will become a sea of music and laughter with mountains of leis. But before we celebrate, consider a commencement allegory… about two students… you know well. I’ll call them Lani and Jairu.
Lani is a faithful student, balancing her music homework with her employment and regular temple service. Jairu is a returned missionary, immersed in his I.T. classes, eager to succeed by doing all that is asked of him.
They have spent years of learning in a place filled with the scent of plumeria and the sounds of paradise. They had brilliant professors who were laser focused on their success. They’ve been committed to their studies, and while there have been temptations, they’ve leaned on the voice of the Lord for direction.
But now the time has come. They’re completing their last set of finals, leaving this garden paradise, and moving out of TVA. When they wake up tomorrow, they must find a job and make their way in the “lone and dreary world.”
Lani and Jairu, are of course Adam and Eve. And they are also each of you. I don’t imagine Adam and Eve wore leis as they left the garden, but their commencement, into mortality teaches us enduring laws for “commencing in the Lord’s way.” [2]
Principle #1 for Commencing in the Lord’s Way: Pray
The scriptures tell us that immediately upon commencing their journey “Adam and Eve…called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord…speaking unto them, and they saw him not;…” [3]
Beginning tomorrow, there will be many times when the Lord feels close, and times when it’s much harder to hear His voice.
The first principle of commencing successfully is this: Do not begin your life after graduation without calling upon His name every day, and perhaps especially on the days when you feel distant from Him.
Just last conference, President Henry B. Eyring taught:
“Despite turmoil and difficulty, faithful Latter-day Saints in hardship across the world have flooded heaven with prayers… Turning to Heavenly Father in fervent prayer when the world seems chaotic is as old as mankind.” [4] “...Consistent prayer during joyous times and also during seasons of distress and grief will surely be rewarded according to His will and perfect timing.” [5]
The Savior Himself taught you this principle of commencing successfully:
“Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed.” [6]
Principle #2 for Commencing in the Lord’s Way: Be a Peacemaker
The second principle for commencing in the Lord’s way is to be a peacemaker. The moment Adam and Eve left that garden paradise, they discovered that thorns and thistles grow not only from the ground, [7] but sometimes in human hearts, disrupting both relationships and peace.
Thistles require the sweat of our brow to remove from the ground, and the thorns that grow in humanity are overcome only as you and I teach and testify of Him who wore those thorns as part of His atoning sacrifice. President Dallin H. Oaks, in his first talk as the Savior’s prophet, taught:
“What a revolutionary teaching for personal relationships! Love even your enemies!” [8] “...Peacemakers! How it would change the world if followers of Christ would forgo harsh and hurtful words.” [9] “…using the language and methods of peacemakers… [and] seek to be holy, like our Savior.” [10]
Conclusion and Testimony
Graduates, congratulations! We love you. We’re proud of you! As you finish today, you’re also commencing tomorrow. Please choose now to commence in the Lord’s way. Elder Patrick Kearon inspired all of us when he taught,
“All of us can have a new beginning through, and because of, Jesus Christ. Even you. New beginnings are at the heart of the Father’s plan for His children. This is the church of new beginnings! This is the church of fresh starts!” [11]
I gratefully testify and add my witness to yours that the Savior is the author of every new beginning including your new beginning tomorrow morning if you will let Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] D. Todd Christofferson, “The Character of Christ,” Liahona, May 2026
[2] A few additional principles of commencing in the Lord’s way from Moses 5
- Moses 5:5: Worship, See Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [1978], 568; “Perfect worship is emulation. We honor those whom we imitate.” It is important to understand something about worship. It is partly kneeling down. It is partly attending Church. It is partly obedience. The essence of worship is emulation. It is imitating.
- Moses 5:5-6: Build an altar and offer sacrifice. Covenants in temples are made at altars. At least part of that reason is because every covenant requires a sacrifice of something. For Adam and Eve, it was the “firstlings” of their flocks. The Hebrew word for “firstlings,” along with ancient meaning and tradition indicate that the word begins with an understanding that it is the firstborn of cattle, sheep, goats, that would be offered. The sacrifice was to be without spot or blemish. The rich meaning of this commandment from the Lord indicates that as Adam and Eve, and now you and me, offer the firstlings, it is a recognition that everything with which we are blessed belongs entirely to the giver of all good gifts, and so in our lives we give the first and best of what we have.
- Moses 5:5: Obedience is next of the Lord’s laws for commencing successfully.
- Moses 5:8: Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son. Doctrine and Covenants 88 says that our incomings should be in the name of the Lord, our outgoings should be in the name of the Lord. Really all that we do should be in His name and in His image, and according to His will. That is the next law of successfully commencing in the Lord’s way.
[3] Moses 5:4
[4] Henry B. Eyring, “Prayers for Peace,” Liahona, May 2026
[5] Henry B. Eyring, “Prayers for Peace,” Liahona, May 2026, emphasis added
[6] 3 Nephi 18:21
[7] Moses 4:24; see also Genesis 3:18
[8] Dallin H. Oaks, “Alive in Christ,” Liahona, May 2026
[9] Dallin H. Oaks, “Alive in Christ,” Liahona, May 2026
[10] Dallin H. Oaks, “Alive in Christ,” Liahona, May 2026
[11] Patrick Kearon, “Jesus Christ and Your New Beginning,” Liahona, May 2026