In their opening devotional for the Fall 2022 semester, BYU-Idaho's president and his wife told students why living a consecrated life is so important.
Sister Kelly Eyring started her BYU-Idaho devotional by talking about the late wife of the former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gordon B. Hinckley. Sister Eyring shared four words of advice from Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley.
That advice includes, first, jump into college and studies with both feet. Second, make developing friendships on campus a very important goal. Third, “learn, learn, learn.” Lastly, make religion an important part of your college life.
“President Eyring and I will be praying for you and your success in the coming months,” Sister Eyring said.
In President Henry J. Eyring’s talk, he spoke about how we can and should live a consecrated life.
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, President Eyring said consecration has been on his mind, especially as he has been ministering as president of the university to families who have lost loved ones.
“I felt lifted by the responses of those family members who were grieving. I thought I’d like to be more like them—more consecrated,” he said in the interview.
Living a life that is consecrated to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it, he said.
“With time and steady effort, our consecration can change the world for the better,” President Eyring said in his devotional.
He also had Brother Richard Pieper, a Mathematics Department faculty member, talk about his great grandfather Heinrich Friedrich Christian Pieper and his family to illustrate what a consecrated life might look like.
“Their blessings and the blessings enjoyed by their posterity are the beautiful fruits of consecration,” he said.
President Eyring closed by sharing stories of his parents. He said his mother has “personified consecration throughout her life” and that his father, President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, “has stayed close.”
“We men similarly can be consecrated good shepherds. The key is to give our all to the giver of eternal life. As we consecrate ourselves, He can lift us heavenward,” he said.