This is a day you graduates have looked forward to with anticipation and excitement for a long time. I hope each of you has a genuine sense of accomplishment and satisfaction with what is happening today.
Three years ago this very week, I received a call from a graduating BYU-Idaho student named Jonathan, who I had mentored for over a decade since our time together in Boston. Jonathan clearly saw receiving his degree as quite a milestone and marker in his life. In many ways he deserved the opportunity to pause and celebrate his accomplishment. You see, Jonathan had come from a broken home in inner-city Boston, out of a community where very few students attended college, let alone finished, and he was about to become the first college graduate in his family.
As we spoke, it was clear that Jonathan was almost overwhelmed with the idea that he would be donning his cap and gown as a BYU-Idaho graduate. It was also clear that Jonathan expected me to be just as taken with what was happening: "Clark, you don't seem to understand. Where I came from, nobody graduates from college!" My reply was loving, but firm: "Jonathan, I am so pleased with what is happening this week. You have come so far, and I am so proud of you. But you also need to understand that I have seen this in you for some time. It is actually just one step in a future path that the Lord has been preparing all along. Indeed, if you truly understood what the Lord expects, you would realize this is only just the beginning of a lifetime of personal development and spiritual growth."
In the three years since that graduation from right here in this auditorium, Jonathan moved on to meaningful professional work. Then, just last month, he walked through another graduation from a master's program on the East Coast. More importantly, Jonathan has grown in the work of his family, strengthening his relationship with his remarkable wife, becoming a father, and expanding in his priesthood responsibility at home and in the Church. Indeed, the Lord was just beginning then, and He is just beginning now to show Jonathan the work and expectations he has ahead of him.
All of us have a stewardship and responsibility for the opportunities and lessons the Lord has blessed us with. Like Jonathan, each of us has been given talents from the Lord; but He also expects us to return those talents with increase. In Matthew we read:
"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
"And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
"Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
"And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
"But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
"After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them."[1]
To the servants who had returned the talents with increase, the Lord said: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord."[2] But to the servant who had hid his talent, his lord said unto him, "Thou wicked and slothful servant"[3] and took that talent from him and gave it to his other servants.
Each of us has been given talents from the Lord. Many of them have come from our parents and from others who have served us in the Church. Some of those talents have come as gifts you have received from the Lord while at this university. They might have come from a faculty member who invested in your learning, or from a university bishop who extended a calling to you to serve in his ward. Those talents may have come in opportunities to serve in leadership roles on campus or in an internship between semesters. Regardless of the talents you have been given while here at this university, we all share a stewardship to return those talents with increase as we consecrate our lives to the Lord and to building His kingdom.
So today, take a moment to pause and celebrate what is happening. Take a photo with your family and loved ones. Hug your friends and, if you are married, kiss your spouse. Celebrate the accomplishment and the milestone that is your graduation. But also know that the word commencement means a beginning, not an end. Each of us has been blessed with opportunities and investments from the Lord. Each of us has a corresponding responsibility to return those talents with increase. I believe this is what Jacob Spori saw when he said, "The seeds we're planting today will grow and become mighty oaks and their branches will run all over the earth."[4]
As you seek for ways to return your talents with increase, I promise you the Lord will bless you in ways that will help you amplify your stewardship to build the kingdom wherever you serve. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Matthew 25:14-19
[2] Matthew 25:21
[3] Matthew 25:26
[4] Jacob Spori, "Bannock Stake Academic Dedicatory Remarks," November 12, 1888