Personal Thought and Invitation
Before I get into my message, can I just share a quick personal thought with you and an invitation? The invitation doesn’t have anything to do with Date Night.
This is the thought: Sister Meredith and I love you. We really do. We think you are remarkable. And I know what some of you are thinking right now, “They’re not talking about me.” Yes, we are. We are talking about you. Not some future version of you. Not a polished, perfect version. We are talking about you, right now! With your struggles, your doubts, your insecurities, and “warts and all.”
You chose to come to this special university, and you’re here today at devotional. That says something about you. If Sister Meredith and I love you in our imperfect, mortal way, can you imagine how much our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you? You are loved and you are good.
We see so many evidences of that goodness, but I will mention just one. Last week, we were at the Red Cliffs Temple during Spring Break. As we walked in, we saw two college-aged women who stopped and looked at us like they recognized us. We knew right away that they were BYU-Idaho students, because no one else recognizes us.
We had a brief, but delightful chat with them. We learned that they were home for a week or so and decided to spend part of one of their spring break days at the temple. We thought to ourselves, “How good are they!”
And it’s not just them. What we saw in them, we see in you. We see so many of you in the Rexburg Temple. We see you on campus smiling and saying hello to people you don’t even know. We hear stories of quiet service, how you reach out to those who may feel left out. We see the Spirit of Ricks in you. We see those things, and so many others, and think, how good you are.
Because of who you are, this simple invitation will make sense to you. Sister Meredith and I invite you to be regular temple worshippers. Regular will look different depending on where you live and what stage of life you are in. When we lived in Singapore and the Hong Kong Temple over 1,600 miles away, regular was quarterly. Now that we live a stone’s-throw away from the Rexburg Temple, regular looks a lot different. Here’s the invitation: Decide today what “regular” looks like for you this spring semester. Then put it on your calendar and go.
Introduction
Charles Dickens began A Tale of Two Cities with these well-known words: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”[1] Those words were written about another time, but they could just as easily describe our own.
We are living in both the majesty of the moment our prophets have described, and the perilous times Paul foresaw. On one hand, the Lord’s work is accelerating in temples, family history,
missionary work, and a growing membership. On the other hand, conflict surrounds us, from wars between nations to daily contention on social media.
As disciples of Jesus Christ who strive to be leaders in our homes, the Church, and our communities, what are we to do in times such as these? We are blessed to have living prophets and apostles to guide us in answering these types of questions.
In this most recent general conference, I listened carefully to President Dallin H. Oaks’ first message as the sustained and set apart prophet. (I knew I would speak today on what he taught.) He spoke at length about peacemaking, a theme that is not new. The Savior’s teaching, “Blessed are the peacemakers,”[2] has been repeated again and again in recent years, including by both President Oaks and President Russell M. Nelson.
As President Henry B. Eyring taught and Elder Neil L. Anderson recently repeated from this very pulpit, “When the words of prophets seem repetitive, that should rivet our attention.”[3] If prophets keep returning to this idea of peacemaking, we should ask not only why, but also what the Lord expects us to do.
One way to begin answering that question is to make it personal: “Am I building peace or tearing it down?” A poem commonly attributed to Edgar A. Guest explores this question:
I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
The men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?[4]
That question, whether I am personally a builder or a wrecker, is at the heart of peacemaking. It also leads to the question President Oaks asked in his general conference message: “How can
one person be a peacemaker?”[5] The peacemaking our prophets have talked about is less about resolving global conflict, and more about what we do, person by person, to create peace in our hearts, in our relationships, and in our communities.
So, what does that look like?
Avoid Contention
It begins with something that is simple, but not necessarily easy: avoiding contention.
In the very first chapter recounting His appearance in the Americas, Jesus taught: “He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil.”[6]
That statement is direct and leaves little room for exceptions. Note that the Savior did not say, “the spirit of contention is of the devil, unless you are right.” Make no mistake, Satan would be thrilled to have you contend for evil. But he also wins when he can get us to contend for any reason, even when we believe we are defending what is right.
Peacemaking While Championing Truth
A natural question is: can we be peacemakers and still stand for truth? Absolutely. There is a difference between advocating for truth and contending over it. True disciples learn the difference and stand for right without being contentious.
In speaking of this type of peacemaking, President Oaks said, “This does not mean surrendering our values. The covenants we have made inevitably position us as devoted participants in the eternal contest between truth and error. We balance our various responsibilities. This balancing is not easy.”[7]
President Jeffrey R. Holland referred to this sensitive balancing act, particularly in our relationships with those whose moral positions differ from gospel teachings. He said, “We have to be careful that love and empathy do not get interpreted as condoning and advocacy or that orthodoxy and loyalty to principle not get interpreted as unkindness or disloyalty to people. As near as I can tell, Christ never once withheld His love from anyone, but He also never once said to anyone, ‘Because I love you, you are exempt from keeping my commandments.’ We are tasked with trying to strike that same sensitive, demanding balance in our lives.”[8]
As President Oaks said, that kind of balance is not easy to achieve. In a world where opposing views often lead to contention, peacemakers stand firmly for truth while showing genuine love. They choose to disagree without being disagreeable.
Avoid Harsh Language
Avoiding harsh and hurtful language is an essential part of peacemaking. President Oaks taught, “How it would change the world if followers of Christ would forgo harsh and hurtful words in all their communications.”[9]
To the Ephesians, Paul said, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.”[10] If you find yourself tempted to say something with the intent to wound, please don’t say it. Sometimes, peacemaking is less about what we say, and more about what we choose not to say.
Thumper, in the old classic Disney movie Bambi, put it simply: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”[11]
That simple lesson may sound elementary, but is not easy, especially in moments of frustration. Even great leaders have had to learn it. Abraham Lincoln was known to write what he called a “hot letter” to those he was angry with. But instead of sending the letter, he would file it.
In a world where every thought can be posted instantly, that kind of discipline matters much more than even in Lincoln’s day. We would be wise to practice what one writer called the “lost art of the unsent angry letter.”
As disciples of Christ, we should not add fuel to the fires of contention, particularly in the comment sections of social media. Anonymity is no excuse for harsh or hurtful language.
Peace-Making Is More than Just an Absence of Contention
I want to add emphasis to this last point. Being a peacemaker is more than simply avoiding contention and harsh language. It is not just about what we don’t say or do, it is about what we choose to say and do.
A week and a half ago, I had an experience that reminded me of that. I was walking out of the Kimball Building and passed someone I don’t know well and simply wished him a good weekend. At the time, I had a few things weighing heavily on me, but he could not have known that by the way I greeted him.
Later that day, he sent me a kindhearted email. He shared some nice things that his colleagues had said and expressed gratitude for some things he generously gave me credit for. It was only a two-paragraph email.
To be honest, I was surprised by the impact that such a short message had on me. Somehow, those things that had been weighing on me felt a little lighter. I felt more peace and even a small, but needed, boost of confidence. It was a simple, small act of kindness, but it made a difference.
It made me wonder: what if we acted on those impressions more often? What if, when we thought or heard something kind about someone, we simply told them?
What I experienced that day is part of something the scriptures describe as edification. When we edify, we lift and strengthen each other. Paul connected edifying directly to peacemaking when he taught, “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.”[12] On several other occasions, Paul encouraged the saints to edify one another.
Being a peacemaker is more than just avoiding contention and conflict. True peacemakers are builders. They edify. They lift and strengthen those around them. They are motivated by charity, the pure love of Christ, and they extend that love to all, even those with whom they disagree.
Conclusion
If there were ever a time that the world needed peacemakers, it is now. And that work begins with each of us. World peace begins with individuals choosing to be peacemakers. Each day brings opportunities to be builders rather than wreckers. Let’s act on those opportunities, not only to avoid contention and harshness, but also to lift, encourage, and edify. I invite each of us to answer President Oaks’ question in our own lives: “How can one person be a peacemaker?”
I testify that Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. As we follow Him and His teachings, we can become peacemakers and find greater peace in our own hearts.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities," Boston: Ginn & Company, [1906], 1
[2] Matthew 5:9
[3] Henry B. Eyring, “Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, Apr. 1997, 25
[4] Edgar Guest, “The Wrecker,” orem.gov
[5] Dallin H. Oaks, “Alive in Christ,” Liahona, Apr. 2026
[6] 3 Nephi 11:29
[7] Dallin H. Oaks, “Alive in Christ,” Liahona, Apr. 2026
[8] Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Second Half of the Second Century of Brigham Young University,” Brigham Young University devotional, Aug. 23, 2021, speeches.byu.edu
[9] Dallin H. Oaks, “Alive in Christ,” Liahona, Apr. 2026
[10] Ephesians 4: 29
[11] Bambi, directed by James Algar, Samuel Armstrong, and David Hand (1942; Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios, 1989), VHS
[12] Romans 14:19