BYU-Idaho administrator shares four important life lessons with students

Betty Oldham, Assistant to the President for Planning and Strategy at Brigham Young University-Idaho, addressed students at the campus devotional on Tuesday, July 1, sharing with them lessons she has learned since her time as a college student.

"Today I want to talk about four things that show up on my long list of things I wish I had known when I was a student at Ricks College-things you may already know about but perhaps may not fully understand, things I wish I had understood when I was your age," Oldham said.

She first discussed the importance of how we serve in the Church, not where. "Some of us are prone to want the rank and position, the responsibility and visibility of a Moroni, an Ammon, or an Alma," Oldham said, referencing prominent figures in the Book of Mormon. "But those callings are not prerequisite to becoming a man or woman of God."

Secondly, Oldham spoke of having a positive attitude, quoting from Alma 26:1, 35 in the Book of Mormon: "...how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started [on this mortal journey] that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?...have we not reason to rejoice?  Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began..."

Oldham then told students of the importance of understanding the love that the Lord has for each of us individually.

"It takes faith and effort and a bit of practice to see the hand of the Lord in our individual lives," she said. "We can begin cultivating that ability by taking time each day to ponder the following questions suggested by President Eyring last October in general conference: ‘Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch me or my children or my family today? Did God send a message that was just for me? Did I see His hand in my life?'"

Oldham then taught the students that the "attitude with which we approach everything we do, and our ability to acknowledge the Lord's hand in our lives are a reflection of our faith in and understanding of the grace and mercy extended to us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

She concluded with her testimony that life is about coming to know the Savior. "It is about inviting Him into our lives, about letting Him be in charge of the very details such that we become all that He wants us to be, all that He needs us to be, all that He knows we can be," she said. "It is all about coming to know and being able to say, individually and personally, ‘The Atonement is for me.' Oh, how I wish I had known that when I was your age!"

Next week's devotional speaker will be Kent Barrus, Director of Academic Advising at BYU-Idaho. This will be the concluding devotional of Summer Semester 2008. Devotionals are held every Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium with additional seating in the Taylor Chapel during Summer Semester. Devotionals are broadcast on KBYI-FM 100.5 at 2 p.m. and rebroadcast Tuesday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.