Aloha! I am so excited to be with you today! Shelley and I have been to many of the isles of the sea, all over the Pacific. And we grew up around the sea, so we feel at home! It is good to be with you on this commencement day, a day of new beginnings. You are an impressive sight!
Congratulations to each of you—you have worked hard for today. And you have had the help of so many others, including the Church itself in providing this wonderful university for you. With all the support you have received, gratitude is probably one of the many emotions you are feeling today!
You may have heard the adage: “A ship in a harbor is safe but that is not what ships are built for.” [1] You were not sent to the earth to metaphorically sit in the harbor, but to leave the harbor and set sail. If you set your course wisely, you will not just face the future; instead, you will shape the future for the better! And I hope this talk will help you do this.
Speaking of the sea, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, where the Puget Sound—a great body of seawater—is set against the backdrop of the magnificent Olympic Mountains and is home to the beautiful San Juan Islands. As a young bishop, I kayaked with the young men of our ward from Sucia Island to Patos Island. We approached Patos from the southeast.
Patos can have very strong currents flowing from west to the east. So, we instructed the young men to focus on the far west end of the island and paddle straight there. We explained that if they followed our instructions, they would avoid the strongest part of the current and make it to the island. We also told them to resist the temptation to take what would appear to be the easier route to the closer, east end of the island—for if they did that, the strong current would sweep them away from the island. To be safe, we arranged in advance for a power boat to follow and pick up those who needed help.
As we made our way, many of the young men’s kayaks drifted east as we entered the current. Because the east end of the island was closer, some intentionally continued in that direction. Others drifted east without knowing it, simply because they lost focus on the west end of Patos Island.
I called out and encouraged them to focus on the west end of the island. Some adjusted their course. Others did not.
The closer we got to Patos Island, the more powerful the current became. Those who failed to focus on the west end of the island (intentionally or not) reached a point where they could not make any headway against the now-powerful current. So, they were picked up by the power boat. And those who maintained their focus on the west end of Patos Island made it!
I have thought a lot about that experience. Each of those young men negotiated the same current, wind, and waves. Each had the same opportunity to focus on the west end of the island. Those who drifted off course had the same opportunity to correct their course. The difference between those who made it to Patos Island and those who did not, was where they focused.
Similarly, what you do and what you become in life—how you shape the future—will depend upon where you focus.
If you steadily focus on Jesus Christ, you will succeed in everything that matters in time and eternity. To focus on Christ means to look unto Him in every thought and to do so with full confidence in Him, doubting not, fearing not. [2]
To the degree you focus on Christ, He who is the “light and the life of the world” [3] will unerringly guide and take you safely home, no matter the currents and storms you encounter. [4] You see, the Savior has “all power…given unto Him in heaven and in earth.” [5]
Resolute focus on Jesus brings His matchless power into your life. [6] That power, actuated by your faith in Him, will shape your future and the future of the world in preparation for the Second Coming.
President Jeffrey R. Holland said: “God expects us to have enough faith and determination and enough trust in Jesus Christ to keep moving, keep living, keep rejoicing. In fact, He expects us not simply to face the future; He expects us to shape the future.” [7]
President Russell M. Nelson said: Our focus must be riveted on the Savior and His gospel. It is mentally rigorous to strive to look unto Him in every thought. But when we do, our doubts and fears flee. [8]
President Nelson adds: I have learned that the most crucial question we each must answer is this: To whom or to what will I give my life? My decision to follow Jesus Christ is the most important decision I have ever made. That choice has made all the difference!
That decision has made so many other decisions easier. That decision has given me purpose and direction. It has also helped me weather the storms of life. [9]
I wholeheartedly agree with President Nelson!
The key to all that is good and fulfilling in my life—from the time I was single through to the present—directly relates to the decision made long ago to focus on Christ and follow Him, come what may.
I have learned that the Savior is not only relevant to everything in life but that He is “the way and the truth” of life. [10] I have learned that He provides those who focus on Him with “a steady supply” [11] of strength in every worthy endeavor. [12]
I will share three things that—if done consistently—will help you focus on Jesus Christ.
First, seek to obtain and follow the word of God.
You will get busy with many things—and the most important thing of all [13] will be to seek Jesus Christ and His Spirit through daily study of the scriptures and the words of the living prophets and apostles.
Those who consistently study [14], feast upon [15], and treasure up [16] the word of God with focus on Christ will have access to a wellspring of divine direction and power. So, organize your daily schedule to do this every day.
In addition to reading the words of Christ on your own (and as a couple if you are married), remember to do it with your children.
I feel so strongly about this that not too long ago, I asked one of our daughters whether she and her husband were reading the Book of Mormon with their six-month-old son. Her response was: “Dad, he is a baby.” And I responded: “Yes, and I hope the words of the scriptures are in the very air he breathes.”
Those who make this a daily effort [17] —and seek to apply what they learn [18] —will not be overwhelmed by the currents and winds and storms of the world; instead, they will bring light and truth to the world, and shape its future in preparation for the Lord’s Second Coming.
Second, counsel with the Lord in all you do.
Your focus on Christ will depend to a large degree on whether you sincerely counsel with your Heavenly Father in prayer every morning, evening, and throughout the day. Share with Him your joys and your concerns. And be still and listen. Prayer is to communicate with your loving, empathetic, all-powerful Father. To communicate means to speak and to listen.
Many of you know Alma’s words regarding focus and prayer:
“…cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.” [19]
I invite you to do this individually, as a married couple, and with your children.
Many years ago, I called for family prayer around the dinner table just before a meal, as was our daily custom. Our five-year-old daughter Rebekah was in no mood that day for a long family prayer—she was hungry and wanted to eat. In frustration, she clenched her fists and said: “All we ever do in this family is pray, pray, pray!” We laughed, we prayed, and we ate—crisis resolved.
Things get more complicated as we grow into adulthood. This same daughter—now a returned missionary adult, sealed in the temple, and mother of five children—supported her husband when he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
And now (as I speak), she is helping her infant son as he undergoes chemotherapy.
Through all of this, Rebekah has riveted the focus of her heart, her mind, her very soul, upon Christ. She pours out her soul to God in prayer. Daily. Hourly. Minute by minute. And because of this prayerful focus on Christ, miracles have come: her husband was healed; and her son was diagnosed early so treatment could begin early.
This wonderful woman who is our daughter recently wrote that the most profound miracle in this time of trial “is knowing that Heavenly Father is aware and that even if His plan is that the cure doesn’t come, the peace and assurance of His love and plan is the greatest miracle.” [20]
Third, keep the covenants you have made with God.
The Lord invites us to take His yoke upon us, so that He can ease our burdens and lend His matchless strength to our daily life. [21]
We yoke ourselves to Him by receiving sacred ordinances and keeping the associated covenants. Keeping these covenants creates an intimate, personal relationship with God, in which He will never cease to reach out to lift and bless us. [22]
Years ago, I was on a hike high in the mountains with our then 12-year-old son. We reached a place where the trail went along the edge of a sheer cliff that dropped a few hundred feet. Our son froze in fear. I urged him forward, but he refused—he was so scared of falling that he could only shake his head “no.” So, I came up to him and put my hand around his shoulder, took his right hand in mine, and said: “Jonathan, I am your dad. I love you and will not let you fall. How about we take two steps while I hold your hand.
Can you do that?” He nodded “yes.” So together, we took two steps. After the first two, I said: “Let’s take two more.” Again, he nodded “yes.” Very, very slowly, we made it across that section of the trail. It took a lot longer than normal, but we made it!
I can honestly say that I was not impatient with him—not even a little. He was just a boy. He was scared. I am his dad. I love him. I wanted him to have a good experience.
I liken this to the covenants we make with God. We are His children. We may be scared. And just as I love our son—and more so—God loves each of us, individually. He wants to have a close relationship with you, with me; He wants to help us make it. So, He patiently extends His hand to each of us. [23] Metaphorically speaking, we take His hand by participating in sacred ordinances and making covenants with Him. When we keep those covenants, we strengthen our grip on His hand. In so doing, we receive His strength, His lifting, steadying influence.
So, what does it mean to keep covenants with God? At the risk of over-simplifying, I will mention three things:
1. Keep His commandments. There is a direct correlation between keeping the commandments of God and being prospered by Him. And to the degree we do not keep His commandments, we are cut off from His presence. [24]
So, remember “the awful situation of those who go contrary to the commandments of God and withdraw themselves from the Spirit of the Lord” and also “consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual.” [25]
You know the commandments. Keep them! Do not pick and choose based on how you feel in the moment. Rather, focus on Christ and keep all His commandments—even when you may not feel so inclined in the moment or if the social currents are pushing another direction. [26]
Focus made all the difference to our kayakers. And focus on Christ through keeping His commandments will make all the difference for you.
Fresh out of law school, I told a senior partner of my law firm that I did not work on Sundays. Hard to do with someone I wanted to impress and who wanted me to work on a Sunday. But I somehow managed to tell him this because I desired to follow Christ by keeping His commandments. And I never had to work another Sunday in 20 years of practice.
2. Serve the Lord. In the Book of Mormon, we learn that the Lord labors alongside those who serve Him. [27] So, if you want to be closer to Him, serve Him.
The closer you are to Him, the easier it is to focus on Him. My invitation: accept callings to serve in the Church and magnify them. And be sure to share the gospel with others—to love, share, and invite. [28]
And make time in your schedule to regularly serve others (on the other side of the veil) in the house of the Lord. You will emerge from His house with greater focus on Him and will be armed with His power. [29]
The Lord promises us that as we serve Him diligently, sincerely, and with real intent, we will have joy with Him in the fruit of our service. [30] I have experienced this.
3. Live the doctrine of Christ. None of us is perfect. Our hand pulls away from His, so to speak, to the degree we fail to fully keep our covenants with Him. Even if we divert our focus away from Him, His hand remains extended to us. [31] Here is to doctrine of Christ: to reestablish that enlivening, invigorating covenant connection with Him, we exercise faith in Him unto repentance, participate in sacred ordinances, keep the associated covenants, cultivate the companionship of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end [32] in living that pattern. [33]
So, like me, you will need to apply the happy and hopeful principle of repentance again and again—for repentance “bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer unto the salvation of our souls.” [34] Repentance—which means we “return unto Him with full purpose of heart” [35] —is made possible because of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice. [36]
Think of when the Apostle Peter lost focus on the Lord while walking on a stormy sea and began to sink into the deep. Perhaps it was a wave of the sea that splashed on his face that caused him to lose focus. But he did not lose faith: He exercised His faith in the Lord unto repentance, crying out: “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and took Peter’s, lifting him back to the surface. [38]
Like Peter, as you focus on Jesus, you will experience miracles. And if you lose focus, exercise your faith in Christ to repent without delay and He will take you by the hand and lift you, just as He did for Peter. The key is to focus on Him and exercise your faith in Him unto repentance. [39]
Focusing on Christ—to look unto Him in every thought—requires that we (1) seek to obtain and follow the word of God; (2) counsel with the Lord in all we do; and (3) keep the covenants we have made with God, meaning we: keep His commandments, serve the Lord; and live the doctrine of Christ.
Seek this Jesus
Moroni—who saw our day—commends us to “seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written that the grace or power of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever.” [40]
What a promise! Seek this Jesus and His grace will be, and abide, in you forever. Consistently, persistently, patiently focus on Him.
Look unto Him in every thought with confidence in Him. Do this, and Jesus Christ will direct you, empower you, heal you, and fill you with hope, the expectation of good things to come.
As you focus on and follow Him through times of happiness and times of trial, all will end well. And you will joyfully join with others in the happy and hopeful refrain: “All is well, all is well!” [41]
I bear you my witness that our Heavenly Father knows you well. He knows your heart, He knows your mind and He loves you with a perfect love. As you do these things, He will lift, strengthen, and steady you. You will move forward with joy and in His power in shaping the future of yourself, your family, and the world in preparation for the Lord's Second Coming. I bear witness of the living reality of the Christ. He lives. He is an active savior, not a distant savior. I bear witness of Him and His reality and do so with love and gratitude for you and who you are. I am excited about your future. I bear this witness and express this to you in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes:
[1] John A. Shedd (1859–1928), a prominent American author and businessman.
[2] See, Doctrine and Covenants 6:36
[3] Mosiah 16:9
[4] The poem “Tis the Set of the Sail,” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, 1916, applies to this principle, so long as we set our course on Christ:
But to every mind there openeth,
A way, and way, and away,
A high soul climbs the highway,
And the low soul gropes the low,
And in between on the misty flats,
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man there openeth,
A high way and a low,
And every mind decideth,
The way his soul shall go.
[5] Matthew 28:18
[6] See e.g., Luke 8:43-48. This woman had suffered for years. When Jesus walked by her in a throng—a current of people—she focused on Christ, exercised her faith to work her way through the crowd, and when she touched the border of his garment, His virtue—power—flowed from Him to her and she was healed. Her resolute focus and faith in Christ brought His power into her life; in His words, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith had made thee whole; go in peace.”
[7] Jeffrey R. Holland, Our Day Star Rising, 232, emphasis added.
[8] Russell M. Nelson, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives,” Ensign or Liahona April 2017, 41
[9] Russell M. Nelson, “The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again,” Ensign or Liahona November 2024, 122
[10] John 14:6
[11] D. Todd Christofferson, “The Power of Covenants,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2009, 21
[12] We cannot simply sit back, do nothing, and expect the steady supply of strength to flow to us. As Captain Moroni called the leaders to repentance, he wrote: “Or do ye suppose that the Lord will still deliver us, while we…do not make use of the means which the Lord has provided for us? ...begin to be up and doing.” (Alma 60:21, 24) Covenants with God mean that we work to keep them. And it means that we “make use of the means” (Alma 60:21) provided us to develop our skills, talents, keep learning, keep striving, and call upon Him in faith for His strength to attend our worthy efforts. In Alma 51:31, we learn that Teancum and his soldiers prevailed against the Lamanites because “every man of Teancum did exceed the Lamanites in their strength and in their skill of war, insomuch that they did gain advantage over the Lamanites.” As we do our part to keep learning and improving our skills—all in the context of being focused on Christ, we will be blessed with skill and power beyond our own.
[13] See Alma 7:7
[14] See Doctrine and Covenants 11:22
[15] See 2 Nephi 31:20; 32:3
[16] See Doctrine and Covenants 84:85
[17] President Russell M. Nelson teaches that you and I “…need daily experiences worshipping the Lord and studying His gospel.” See Russell M. Nelson, “The Power of Spiritual Momentum,” Ensign or Liahona, April 2022, 99, emphasis added.
[18] It is not enough to study, we must also put what we learn into practice. As the Lord observed: “And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” and then teaches that those who hear and do are “like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the food arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.” And about those who hear and do not, the Lord observed that they are “like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell.” Luke 6:46-49.
The same goes for hearkening unto the words of living prophets. For, as Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “It is exceedingly important for members of the Church to get experience following the prophets in little things, so that they can follow in large matters. By following the prophets in fair weather, we become familiar with their cadence, so that we can follow them in stormy times too, for then both our reflexes and our experience will need to combine to help us; the stresses will be so very real.” Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience,” (Deseret Book 2007), 102.
[19] Alma 37:36-37
[20] Private correspondence by text.
[21] See Matthew 11:28-30
[22] Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022
[23] See Jacob 5:47; see also Mormon 5:11, where Mormon notes that, had the Nephites repented, they would have been “clasped in the arms of Jesus.” See also, Mormon 6:17, wherein Mormon laments their departure “from the ways of the Lord…who stood with open arms to receive [them]!”
[24] See Alma 36:1, 30; 38:1
[25] Mosiah 2:36; 40-41
[26] See Genesis 39:1-12. In this powerful story, Joseph kept the important commandment to live the law of chastity. He turned away from the seductive wife of Potiphar because of Joseph’s focus on the Savior. Joseph’s words evince his focus upon, his loyalty to, and his love for, the Lord: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9
[27] See Jacob 5:71-72
[28] See Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ [2019] 167-169.
[29] See Doctrine and Covenants 109:22-23, 25-26, 38
[30] See Jacob 5:71, 75
[31] See Jacob 5:47
[32] See Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ [2019] 73, where we learn: “Enduring to the end means staying faithful to God to the end of our lives—through good time and hard times, through prosperity and adversity. We humbly allow Christ to shape us and make us more like Him. We look to Christ with faith, trust, and hope regardless of what comes in our lives. Enduring to the end does not simply mean holding on until we die. Instead, it means focusing our lives, thoughts, and actions on Jesus Christ. It includes continuing to exercise faith in Christ each day. We also continue to repent, keep our covenants with God, and seek the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Enduring to the end includes ‘press[ing] forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men’ Our Heavenly Father promises that as we endure to the end, we ‘shall have eternal life” (2 Nephi 31:20).
[33] See 3 Nephi 27:13-22; see also, Preach My Gospel, 9 (“The gospel of Jesus Christ can change how we live and who we become. Its principles are not just steps that we experience once in our lives. When we repeat them throughout life, they bring us closer to God and become an increasingly rewarding pattern of living.”); And see Preach My Gospel, 61-75.
[34] Helaman 5:11
[35] 3 Nephi 10:6, emphasis added
[36] See 2 Nephi 9:19-26; Alma 34:14-16
[37] See Alma 34:15-17
[38] See Matthew 14:24-32
[39] See Alma 34:15-17
[40] Ether 12:41
[41] “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” Hymns, no. 30