We are happy to have this opportunity to address you and welcome you at the beginning of this Mothers’ Weekend. It is one of the highlight events of the semester, of the year. We welcome you, mothers.
Your student children are so wonderful. We enjoy their spirit of commitment and hard work. As President Clark and I get the opportunity to look into their faces as we greet them around campus, we see a light there that reflects a very special spirit. In Alma, chapter 7 (where the theme for this weekend is found), I read about what I see in their faces. In verses 23 and 24:
"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
"And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works."
We are grateful to have your children at BYU–Idaho. We are grateful for choices they made while living at home that built in them a commitment to the gospel that makes them worthy to attend here. We are grateful for their dedication to active membership in their wards on campus where they serve and teach one another. Activity in the ward is fundamental to their growth while they are here.
Each Monday night we have the opportunity to engage with a few students in a family home evening meeting. The students sign up as individuals or as groups (sometimes as family home evening groups and sometimes as whole wards). They ask us questions, and we answer their questions as best we can. We love family home evenings with your children. When we have a ward for family home evening, we see firsthand the associations they build there. We are so grateful for ward leaders. I hope you get the opportunity to attend your student’s ward on Sunday and meet the bishopric and perhaps some of the stake leaders. These men and women from Rexburg and the surrounding communities consecrate their service to our students. We are so grateful for them.
We are grateful to you. The foundation provided by family in your sons and daughters is a great blessing. As I think about the joy you as mothers are feeling in the company of your sons and daughters, I am reminded of the larger family to which we all belong. Being brothers and sisters, children of our Father in Heaven, is the source of many blessings during our sojourn here. Let me talk of that family for just a moment.
We know, through revelation, of our experience before we came to earth where we lived with our heavenly parents. There we attended the council where our futures were discussed and the plan explained. In Abraham, chapter 3, and Moses, chapter 4, we read the words of the Savior’s plan (which was the Father’s plan). In Abraham, chapter 3, verses 24-25:
"And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
"And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them."
And in Moses, chapter 4, verse 2:
"Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever."
In Revelation, chapter 12, we read about the war that then took place in which Lucifer and his followers rebelled against the plan. Agency was the issue. In the Bible Dictionary we read:
"The spirits who thus rebelled and persisted were thrust out of heaven and cast down to the earth without mortal bodies, “and thus came the devil and his angels.”[1]
Brothers and sisters, we know that because we have physical bodies we chose the Savior Jesus Christ’s plan. That choice brought us to earth with the Light of Christ within us. Our goal is to build on the light we have been given. That goal is not attainable without a battle of our own. Reading further in the Bible Dictionary:
"The warfare is continued in mortality in the conflict between right and wrong; between the gospel and false principles, etc. The same contestants and the same issues are doing battle, and the same salvation is at stake."[1]
The mission of BYU–Idaho is to prepare young people to be valiant in their battle. Our goal is to have them leave here as “disciple leaders”—firm and steadfast in their testimonies of the Savior having experienced success in developing those characteristics we see in their faces that I read about in our theme scripture.
In January at the beginning of this semester, President Clark spoke to the students about this very special school where faith, devotion, and obedience prepare true disciples and trusted servants who give their hearts and minds to the Lord. He taught the students about the Honor Code and explained how they should determine where they stand in their commitment to obedience to the principles outlined for them therein.
Let me read from President Clark’s talk:
"The Honor Code includes many things that we might describe as great: honesty and integrity, avoiding pornography, living the law of chastity, and the Word of Wisdom, indeed, the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it also contains many rules against things that we might describe as small: flip-flops; curfew; torn or ragged jeans; long sideburns; shorts and capris; form-fitting tops and pants and other immodest styles; beards; “underwear styles” of clothing; and much else. Some of you may wonder why we have such small things in the Honor Code."[2]
President Clark’s talk is titled “Out of Small Things Proceedeth that Which is Great.” It is a wonderful and inspired talk to the students. Each student subsequently received a copy of the talk through his or her ward. I would encourage you mothers to talk to your student(s) about it. It is available on the BYU–Idaho Web page. Click on Quick Links, and you can find the talk and read or print it.
The experience of living the Honor Code in the “zone of discipleship,” as explained by President Clark, builds on the foundations the students come here with and strengthens those characteristics related in our theme scripture that are reflected in their faces all across campus.
I am grateful for the Spirit that brings to this community an atmosphere in which the Holy Ghost ministers daily. We refer to this as the Spirit of Ricks. In that spirit we “abound in good works.”
I leave you my testimony of these principles and blessings so generously bestowed upon us by our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Bible Dictionary, “War in Heaven”
[2] Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, January 10, 2006