It's good to be here today, although I'd much prefer to be in the audience. Mary Sue and I are about to depart for our home. This is a chance to thank you for the wonderful experiences we've shared and the friendships that have resulted from working with you.
My subject today is derived from the things I have experienced while we've been here. I hope my remarks will help you answer the question, "What part will you play on the stage of life" ?
President McKay's prophecy, "From this school will go forth men and women whose influence will be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally" contains a powerful message.
My first reaction to this statement was to focus on peace as the world knows it. Upon further reflection I believe there is a deeper and more important meaning of "Peace" for us. Ask yourselves, what is peace? Who is the source of peace? When and how will peace be achieved in this world?
We know that Christ is the source of peace. Daniel H. Ludlow made the following observation,
"The 'peaceable things of the kingdom' are the basic principles of the gospel, for their observance will lead to peace. If all the people on the earth would live the principles of the gospel fully, peace would be the natural and inevitable result. The gospel of Christ is truly the gospel of peace, and one of the Savior's titles is the Prince of Peace."
Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet offer the following comment,
"There is a quiet confidence, an assurance born of righteousness and trust in the Almighty, that characterizes the true followers of the Prince of Peace. They are peacemakers because they are at peace. They settle disputes because they are grounded and settled in the faith."
This statement describes you and the abilities you have to share with the world. You have come to know, understand and emulate what Christ taught.
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27)
"Establishing peace" is inseparably connected with the Gospel of Christ. Spreading this message to those you are able to influence is core to fulfilling President McKay's vision for you.
Therefore we could paraphrase President McKay's words to read "From this school will go forth men and women who will extend the savior's message of peace internationally."
Despite the use of media, technology and other mass methods that expose the church to the world and create interest, the acceptance of the restored gospel is a personal, one-by-one experience. Converts need "high touch" experiences like personal testimonies and genuine friendships with members.
Those of you, who have served missions in or have come from areas of the world where the church presence is limited, appreciate the strength that is added by faithful members. On a daily basis they live exemplary lives and serve in a variety of ways to extend the programs of the church and its influence. The more member presence that exists in an area, the better the church operates and the easier it is for others to see the fruits of the gospel. For this to happen, members must not only live the gospel but live where their light can shine.
Paul taught the Corinthians the Church is one, but has many members, each of whom is needed to make the body of the Church compete. You have a part to play.
You are here at this time to confirm who you want to become and to prepare for that part. This is the time when you are expected to determine your course and extend your knowledge so that you can contribute in your area of influence when you leave.
You need to start with a "dream" that says, -- no holds barred--, what would I like to be, what would I really enjoy doing and how can I be an influence for good? How do I see myself in 10, 20 or 30 years? What are some things I want, and don't want? What would the Lord have me do? Will my life be spent in worthy endeavors or squandered on shallow, meaningless activities?
While it's good to have a dream, a dream is not enough. You need to translate that dream into a plan of action that you can actually perform. It needs to be realistic and consistent with what the Lord would have you do.
My assignment, while at BYU-Hawaii has been to work to improve career placement opportunities for students. I have seen the results of many students who have developed a very clear idea of what they wanted to be and what they needed to do to get there. However, it's sad and disappointing when I see situations where students haven't given adequate thought or planning to what they want to do when they graduate. They have either not taken the time to think about what will happen and plan accordingly or they have unrealistic expectations given their situations. For these students, the outcomes are not as good as they could or should have been.
There is a humorous story that President Hinckley told in the October 1981 Priesthood Session that I'd like to share. It describes problems people cause themselves by failing to plan.
"It appears that an English company owned a property in the West Indies. A violent storm damaged one of the buildings, and a man was sent to make repairs. Of his experience, he wrote the manager as follows:
"Respected Sir,
When I got to the building, I found that the hurricane had knocked some bricks off the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the building, there were a lot of bricks left over.
I hoisted the barrel back up again and secured the line at the bottom, and then went up and filled the barrel with extra bricks. Then I went to the bottom and cast off the line.
Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was heavier than I was, and before I knew what was happening the barrel started down, jerking me off the ground. I decided to hang on, and halfway up, I met the barrel coming down and received a severe blow on the shoulder.
I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my finger jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground, it burst its bottom, allowing all the bricks to spill out.
"I was now heavier than the barrel and so started down again at high speed. Halfway down, I met the barrel coming up and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the bricks, getting several painful cuts from the sharp edges.
At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of the line. The barrel then came down, giving me another heavy blow on the head and putting me in the hospital.
I respectfully request sick leave."
"After hearing that, you may wonder how anyone could be so thoughtless and shortsighted. And yet every day we see people whose lives become entangled and who are bumped and bruised because they fail to plan, to think, to consult with others, to follow the teachings of the gospel."
You may ask, Brother Johnson, I am swamped with work, school, church, and in some cases family responsibilities. How can I find time for this? My answer is simple-it's your future. BYU-Hawaii is a great place to be, but it is not a destination. When you leave here, you need to be ready to step into your role. You cannot afford to wait until you are about to leave to prepare. The more unique or complex your situation is, the more lead time you need to identify necessary steps and set things in motion.
Let time be your ally. Lay ground work with those who can help you and provide enough time for the things you need to develop and mature by the time you need them.
You have heard the comment, so and so was sure lucky. Maybe they were lucky, or just maybe, they anticipated things they needed in advance and took steps to make them happen. There is a phrase "Make your own luck" that some of you may have heard, that encapsulates this concept. If you have an idea of where you are headed, you can help yourself by anticipating your future needs and by laying the foundations to put them in place.
Your plan needs your honest and thoughtful input, information and advice from trusted sources and most importantly divine inspiration. You need to verify your assumptions. Don't base key decisions on poor or inaccurate information. As an old carpenter once told me, "Measure Twice, cut Once" . Try and get it right the first time but provide some cushion to absorb the uncertainties that will come. If you do these things you will have a plan to help you identify requirements, set realistic objectives and establish milestones to check your progress. It will provide bench marks you can use to determine if you are on course and a framework against which you can evaluate options and make decisions.
Your plan needs some sense of urgency. You need to be moving forward. Someone once said, "In all your getting, get going" . While there are times you may need to pause, normally waiting for the "right time" to take action has negative impacts. It allows events to arise and sidetrack you. Don't put yourself in the situation where you are close to graduation and still scrambling to pull things together. If you do, you are likely to experience disappointment, compromises and delays. Remember, there are more resources here to assist you in achieving your goals than you will find after you leave, so use them while you are here.
Another problem of not having a plan or set of goals and priorities is that you can fail to consider risks and/or consequences of your actions, lack of action or become distracted and getting off course. If you have to retrace steps, correct mistakes and start again it takes time and resources that could be better spent. While the experience may prove helpful, it can also be painful in the loss of time, opportunities or even worse.
It is said of Christ, "He never took a backward step."
We will not be so fortunate. We will make mistakes, but to the extent we can minimize our backward steps, the less likely we will get distracted from our goals and the less heartache we'll experience. You may need to make mid-course corrections from time to time to stay on course, but these should be minor.
A good plan will serve you well but I guarantee things will not work out exactly as you expect. There will be unexpected events, some of which will be obstacles or trials. None of us are exempt.
A personal bump in the road for me was when an employer for whom I had worked for several years, made a decision to select an outside candidate for an executive position for which I was a prime candidate. This news devastated me and the results of that decision and how I chose to deal with it reverberated through our family and resulted in unanticipated changes in our lives. An interesting comment I received from the consultants, whom I recommended we hire for this engagement, as we discussed the decision was, "Organizations Survive, People Don't" . Had my long term goals been tied only to achieving this position and the benefits associated with it, I would have taken this disappointment even harder. However, with my understanding who I was and the bigger picture, I fought through this and moved on.
What happens when obstacles are placed in your way, when expected good fortune turns to bad? When things happen that are not part of your plan? What about when what you want to do is different than what you need to do.
Will your tests just delay you or throw you off course? We are told in Abraham that we are here to prove that we "... will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command ..."
We are all different and will be tested differently. Our tests will be associated with something that is very important to us, but we are promised that we will not be tested beyond our ability to withstand.
Truman Madsen relates a story about sacrifice using an experience with President Hugh B Brown.
"Once I was in the valley known as Hebron where, tradition has it, there is a tomb to father Abraham. As I approached the place with President Hugh B. Brown, I asked, "What are the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?" President Brown thought a moment and answered in one word, "Posterity."
Then I almost burst out, "Why, then was Abraham commanded to go to Mount Moriah and offer his only hope of posterity?" It was clear that this man, nearly ninety, had thought and prayed and wept over that question before.
He finally said, "Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham." (Meridian Magazine)
While our tests are a way for us to confirm our commitment to God, they are more about helping us understand ourselves. Overcoming them gives us confidence that we can do the hard things that will be required of us. Some of the tests will come while you are here. Others will come as your life plays out.
President Faust made the following comments in the October 2002 Priesthood session.
As a friend of mine once said, "When we sacrifice our talents or our earthly or academic honors or our increasingly limited time on the altar to God, the act of sacrifice binds our hearts to Him, and we feel our love for Him increase."
"When we render any service in the kingdom: be it teaching a lesson-- or dry pack canning at Welfare Square: it will be of much less value to us if we only see it as a 'To Do' item. ... But if we visualize ourselves laying on the altar to God our talents or our time commitment... then our sacrifice becomes personal and devotional to Him."
Many of you may recall an experience President Eyring related about his father, a world renowned and respected scientist. At the time of the story his father was nearly eighty and had bone cancer which made it very painful for him to move.
"As the senior high councilor, he assigned himself to fill an assignment to weed a field of onions at the welfare farm.
At the end of the day, after all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone asked him, "Henry, good heavens! You didn't pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway."
"Dad thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on him. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway.
When Dad told me this story, I knew how tough it was. So I said to him, "Dad, how could you make a joke out of that? How could you take it so pleasantly?" He said something to me that I will never forget, and I hope you won't. -- He said, "Hal, I wasn't there for the weeds."
"Now, you'll be in an onion patch much of your life. So will I. It will be hard to see the powers of heaven magnifying us or our efforts. It may even be hard to see our work being of any value at all. And sometimes our work won't go well.
But you didn't come for the weeds. You came for the Savior. And if you pray, and if you choose to be clean, and if you choose to follow God's servants, you will be able to work and wait long enough to bring down the powers of heaven."
Sometimes we may be a little like Jonah, we are reluctant to serve because what is asked is not what we want to do, or we don't feel it's appropriate for us, or that it gets in the way of something else we prefer to do.
President Uchtdorf's message in the October Priesthood Session on pride speaks to how we should serve."... This sin [pride] has many faces. It leads some to revel in their own perceived self-worth, accomplishments, talents, wealth, or position. They count these blessings as evidence of being "chosen," "superior," or "more righteous" than others. This is the sin of "Thank God I am more special than you." At its core is the desire to be admired or envied. It is the sin of self-glorification.
For others, pride turns to envy: they look bitterly at those who have better positions, more talents, or greater possessions than they do. They seek to hurt, diminish, and tear down others in a misguided and unworthy attempt at self-elevation. When those they envy stumble or suffer, they secretly cheer."
Continuing, he says, "I once owned a pen that I loved to use during my career as an airline captain. By simply turning the shaft, I could choose one of four colors. The pen did not complain when I wanted to use red ink instead of blue. It did not say to me, "I would rather not write after 10:00 p.m., in heavy fog, or at high altitudes." The pen did not say, "Use me only for important documents, not for the daily mundane tasks." With greatest reliability it performed every task I needed, no matter how important or insignificant. It was always ready to serve.
In a similar way we are tools in the hands of God. When our heart is in the right place, we do not complain that our assigned task is unworthy of our abilities. We gladly serve wherever we are asked. When we do this, the Lord can use us in ways beyond our understanding to accomplish His work."
You are one of approximately 700 students from around the world who are admitted to this university each year. Each of you has a story. The events that led you here clearly demonstrate that you are not here by chance. Many of you, or your families, have sacrificed a great deal for you to be here. You are preparing now to step onto the stage of life and share your talents and what you believe with people who need to understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and by accepting and living it, enjoy His "Peace" . Because you have also received the gospel and made covenants to serve God, you are designated to be among the salt of the earth. In D&C 101:39-40 we read,
"When men are called unto mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men; They are called to be the savor of men; therefore, if that salt of the earth lose its savor, behold, it is thenceforth good for nothing only to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men."
Being the savor of men is not the easy path, but we have the Lord's promises to sustain and bless us. I have found the promise from Moroni in the book of Ether helps me and, others I have known, make decisions that seem hard
"... I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6)
And I also take courage from the promise made to early members of the church contained in D&C 64:33-34,
"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days."
Now is the challenge. Knowing you are here because there is a specific work for you to do, will you heed the call, prepare yourself and make the commitment to play your part? Will you take the time to plan for your next destination before this scene closes? Will you leverage the time and the resources available now to help you make a successful transition?
Will you listen to the still small voice that will prompt you in the direction the Lord would have you go ... or will the message of the large and spacious building drown it out. Remember the Lords words in D&C 121:34-35,
"Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men that they do not learn this one lesson: "
There is a different role for each of us. Some of you may need to be in Chicago while others are needed in Cebu; the Lord may need you in Bangkok and not in Burbank. Some may need to go onto graduate school while others can go directly into the work force or pursue other objectives. Some of your roles will be more difficult than others and may provide a greater test of faith to accept.
Remember, you will not be asked to do what you cannot do, but if you will seek to understand and fulfill your role, you will be strengthened and blessed as was Abraham.
The importance of performing your role is illustrated by the experience of President David O. McKay.
While serving as a missionary in Scotland, David O. McKay's experience gave him the motto he used for the rest of his life...
While he and his companion returned home from visiting Stirling Castle, they passed a building where, above the door was a curious stone sculpture with the carved inscription:
"What-e'er thou art, act well thy part."
This message struck young Elder McKay so forcefully, that he decided to devote himself completely to always doing his best in whatever responsibility he had. The stone itself was designed by an architect named John Allen. Along with the inscription he included a design known as 'a magic square'. Each shape within the square represents a numerical value, and when you add the numbers in any direction it will always equal 18.One theory as to why the magic square was included with the phrase What E'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part is that if any of the shapes are rearranged or their values were changed, then the square will cease to be magic as it won't equal 18 in every direction. So in life, as we have different roles and responsibilities, if we don't do our part or give 100% then it will affect the outcome, be it family, church, or work and the whole organization will not function as intended. In other words What E'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part and the "Whole" will function perfectly.
I hope that you will answer the question I have posed today with words similar to those conveyed in the familiar Hymn,
I'll go where You want me to go, dear Lord,...
I'll be what You want me to be.
May we be willing to do what the Lord would have us do, in the places where He needs us to be so that His work will move forward that, His peace can be established throughout the world. May we do it willingly, in a way that is pleasing to Him. May we relinquish our pride and desires to be successful, as defined by the world, and say with a willing, joyful voice, I'll be what you want me to be.
It is my witness that the gospel is true, that the Lord needs you to be his "high touch" resources in places where you have unique talents to help move his purposes forward. If you commit yourselves to him, you will be accounted as one of those whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains because you publish peace, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.