Elder and Sister Meredith, Sister and Brother Dennis, parents, family, friends: it’s a great pleasure to be with you. And graduates—you look wonderful! Let this sink in—You are a college graduate! Congratulations!
A Unique Board of Trustees
It’s my pleasure today to represent BYU-Idaho’s Board of Trustees. Speaking at President Meredith’s inauguration, Elder Ronald A. Rasband said that BYU-Idaho “operates under the guidance of a unique and distinctive Board of Trustees. . . . BYU-Idaho’s Board is led by the First Presidency, with President Russell M. Nelson serving as Chairman.”
“[BYU-Idaho’s] governance structure,” Elder Rasband added, “creates a tremendous advantage for [the university], its president, the work of its faculty and staff, and the spiritual development of its students.” [1]
BYU-Idaho and everything and everyone this university touches is led by prophets, seers, and revelators.
A Lesson About Listening
President Meredith and I have the privilege of attending BYU-Idaho board meetings. For just a moment, please come with me to Salt Lake City. President Meredith and I get to observe Elder Christofferson and Elder Rasband listen to the First Presidency. Their focus, their concentration, their eagerness to catch every word and even every nuance is changing my life. And this won’t surprise you: President Nelson is also an incredible listener. He listens to the Board. He listens to President Meredith every time he’s presenting. President Nelson leans forward, locks eyes, and listens like he doesn’t want to miss a single syllable. He listens like you did when preparing for your most challenging final. Nowhere has his listening been more inspiring to you and me than when he invited us to listen more carefully to the Savior with the invitation to #HearHim.
Called Upon Joseph Smith
There are promises to each of us for listening to and following the Lord’s prophet. We live in the day described by the Savior Himself, who said some would walk in their own ways [2] rather than the Lord’s. Knowing that “perfect worship is emulation,” [3] then the substitution of our will over His constitutes, as the Lord said, the substance of an idol. [4]
In the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord warns us of this impending calamity and promises safety with such clarity it can’t be missed. “Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun.” [5] He then says, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” [6]
The Lord wants us to understand that when the prophet speaks, we are hearing what the Savior Himself wants us to hear. As you graduate and move on with your lives and decisions . . . as you move into a world where people listen to wolves in sheep’s clothing, or even to wolves in wolves’ clothing, remember this: listening to and hearing the Lord’s prophet is the same as listening to the Lord’s own words.
Testimony
We are incredibly proud of you today. You have worked nights, days, and weekends to get here. And now, tomorrow morning you begin a whole new adventure.
I testify that the Savior, Jesus Christ, has called prophets and apostles as His mouthpieces on earth. Knowing there are prophets on the earth, in the words of Elder Rasband, creates a tremendous advantage for us and for our families.
I hoped that today you would be able to picture in your mind how carefully President Nelson listens. And knowing that God listens even more perfectly than President Nelson will hopefully, right now in this very moment, increase your faith that He listens and responds to you. I pray we will try to listen to Him and His prophets as carefully as He listens to us.
I testify that Heavenly Father and the Savior are the source of our direction, answers, happiness, and hope. Ultimately, They are our only source of happiness and hope. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Ronald A. Rasband, “2023 Inauguration Address by Ronald A. Rasband,” BYU-Idaho Speeches, October 10, 2023, 2023 Inauguration Address by Ronald A. Rasband - Inauguration of President Alvin F. Meredith III.
[2] See Doctrine and Covenants 1:16.
[3] Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Co., 1995), 568.
[4] See Doctrine and Covenants 1:16.
[5] Doctrine and Covenants 1:17.
[6] Doctrine and Covenants 1:38.