My dear friends, since my call as a General Authority in April 1994, more than 30 years ago, I have had the privilege of speaking at devotionals on this campus three times. Today marks the fourth, and likely the last, such opportunity I will have. Accordingly, I have prayerfully pondered what I might share with you from the corridors of memory and life experience that would be of greatest benefit to you, who are the generation upon whom the Lord and His Church will depend in the challenging times ahead.
Here it is: Don’t shrink! That’s it: Don’t. Shrink! I have entitled these remarks: Don’t shrink! Facing Life’s Uncertainties. There is no season of life without challenges and uncertainties. None more than yours! You stand at one of life’s crossroads. Significant decisions about career, marriage and missionary service are before you. Sometimes these are complicated by a heavy debt load or by distractions, like smartphones, social media, videogaming, or bad relationships, or by other circumstances. I wish to offer some thoughts, born of experience, as to how the man or woman of righteousness faces life’s challenges—difficult and uncertain moments that confront each of us—and comes away victorious.
I
Among those messages during our last general conference that moved me was one delivered by Sister Kristen M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency. In her address, which she entitled “The Joy of Our Redemption”, she told of her desire some years ago to paint a portrait of the Savior. [1] Among her many gifts, Sister Yee is an accomplished artist. Uncertain where she would find the inspiration or the time, she said that nonetheless, “I decided to move forward and trust that the Lord would help me.” That simple sentence captures my message to you! I decided to move forward and trust that the Lord would help me! It should be engraved as if in granite on the fleshy tables of every honest, seeking heart!
The inspiration came! When her masterpiece was done, she applied a transparent coat of varnish to protect it from dirt and dust and then watched in horror as the painting began to dissolve and disappear! She had applied the varnish too soon! Sick and in despair, she resonated with her mother’s wisdom, “You won’t get back what you had done, but do the very best you can with what you’ve got.” That is another sentence worthy of heart-engraving! Someone has said that “life is what happens to you on the way to do what you had planned.” Amen! The key to happiness and success in the pivotal moments of life is to move on from wherever you are and to do the very best that you can!
That’s what Sister Yee did. And this magnificent portrait of Jesus Christ, as He confronted His great moment of decision, is the result. [2] She entitled it, “And I Partook.”
That phrase is drawn from the words of the Savior Himself, as recorded in Section 19 of the Doctrine & Covenants:
“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men” (emphasis added). [3]
The portrait paints Jesus the Christ in His most private, most excruciating moment—the most consequential Moment from all eternity to all eternity—as He stood at the threshold of His Atoning Sacrifice. And in that moment, when our salvation hung in the balance, our Savior did not shrink! And He partook the bitter cup!
Neither did Sister Yee shrink! As she put it, “[The Lord] was not done with the painting, and He was not done with me.” She began with what she had and painted over. I love this masterpiece and the story of courage and determination behind it. Both exemplify my message to you today: When faced with life—be it the mere every day or those crucial decisions of lifechanging import—don’t shrink! Don’t. Ever. Shrink. Jesus is our perfect Exemplar.
Elder David A. Bednar has taught that not shrinking ultimately means developing a level of confidence in our Lord’s wisdom and love for us that we can move forward, accepting whatever life brings, even though it may not be what we had hoped. [4] It means trusting that He sees a horizon for us infinitely brighter than the limited one visible to our mortal eyes. When asked what he had learned while suffering through brutal chemotherapy for leukemia, Elder Neal A. Maxwell insightfully responded, “I have learned that not shrinking is more important than surviving.” [5]
When we learn to trust so completely in the Lord that we can accept His will in our lives no matter what, then—then—we have found the calm jet stream of life well above the turbulence and buffeting at lower altitudes. But how do we do that? The short answer is—with experience! May I share some personal experiences, drawn from the season of life you are now in.
II
Lesson One: Not shrinking means facing life’s challenges squarely. Upon graduation from university, I was commissioned an officer in the United States Army. I was an infantry lieutenant. With youthful exuberance, I volunteered for training as a U.S. Army Ranger. Rangers are elite infantry— “commandos”—skilled in conducting long range raids and reconnaissance patrols deep in enemy territory. Ranger training is the toughest the Army offers.
In those days, it was nine weeks of hyper-intense, physically punishing torture at Ft. Benning, Georgia; then in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia; and finally in the reptile-infested swamps of Florida that sought to simulate the experience of actual combat. The course was filled with what the Ranger cadre called “confidence tests”—punishing challenges to test both physical and mental stamina intended to increase self-confidence and expand our perception of what we are capable of doing under extreme stress. From start to finish, Ranger training was an ongoing confidence test instilling the ethos of never shrinking from a challenge.
In Ranger School, we were organized in pairs—"Ranger Buddies”. My Ranger Buddy, Clark Stevens, and I did everything together. At the Mountain Ranger Camp, among other things we were taught the technique for two-man party-climbs up sheer rock faces. It was winter, and there were patches of black ice on these cliffs, which added to the peril. One day, we were to scale a 100-foot cliff in buddy teams. The technique called for one Ranger to climb while the other belayed for him with a rope. Then, when the first Ranger had secured a position part way up the cliff, he belayed while his buddy leapfrogged past him further up, and so on until they reached the top.
Clark and I walked back and forth along the base of the cliff looking for the easiest route up we could find. You could say that we were shrinking a little. At last, we found a spot where the rock started up at about 45 degrees instead of the typical 90 degrees. It looked easier. So, Clark went first while I belayed. Up he went and around a bend in the rock. I lost sight of him. Then came two tugs on the rope, signaling that it was now my turn to climb past him. When I reached Clark and looked up at my section of the climb, to my dismay I discovered that the cliff was not just perpendicular but that it was actually an overhang! To scale it was highly perilous, requiring the need to hang from the rock using a rope stirrup hooked to a steel piton (or alpine peg) in a rock crevice; then standing with one foot in the stirrup while fixing another stirrup to the next piton a little higher, repeating again and again until I finally reached the summit. I still have visions of swinging perilously on one foot peering into the 100-foot abyss below and wondering how in the world I had gotten into such a predicament!
Clark and I eventually made it to the top of the cliff. We lay on our backs, exhausted. In our search for an easy route up the cliff, we had turned a difficult challenge into an extraordinarily difficult one. Here is the lesson: There is seldom, if ever, an easy route up and over life’s “cliffs”. When confronting them, just move forward, trusting in God; and don’t shrink!
III
Lesson Two: Not shrinking means waiting upon the Lord. Often, life’s decisions involve actions that cannot be completed in a few moments, or even months. Sometimes doing the right thing, like Sister Yee with her painting or Elder Maxwell with his chemotherapy, requires faith in action day after day and confidence in Someone beyond ourselves. We must let God prevail. [6] As the Savior said with respect to His Great Moment, “glory be to the Father, and I partook”. [7] He credited His Father. But Christ first had to decide Himself to move forward; and when He did, His Father sent an angel, strengthening Him. [8] Moroni captured the principle in these words: “[W]herefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.” [9]
Years before my military experience, I served a mission in the British Isles. I always had planned to serve, but the decision became more challenging when I met this beautiful girl in college! Sound familiar to anyone here?! We dated. We fell in love. We even discussed the possibility of eventual marriage. But I had a mission to fulfill; and, to her everlasting credit, she agreed that was what I should do. But it wasn’t easy, and other young men in our university ward made no effort to conceal their delight that I was going to be away for a couple of years.
Nevertheless, I went. My heart was very sad as I bade her goodbye. In my day, there was no MTC. Instead, newly called missionaries would attend a one-week orientation in what was then called the Mission Home, which was located on North State Street in Salt Lake City. I entered the Mission Home with a desire to serve but with a heavy heart. Then, a miracle happened that changed my life!
On the very first morning there, Sister Richards, the wife of the Mission Home president, arose to address us. I shall never forget her words! “Now, you missionaries,” she declared, “I want to talk to you about those girls at home.” She had my undivided attention! Then, she spoke another one of those sentences that deserves heart-engraving: “Do you think—do you really think—that if you go out and serve the Lord with all your heart for two years that He will let you down in the most important decision you will ever make in your life?” In that moment, dear brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit filled my soul from top to toe! I felt as if I was the only other person in the room! Of course, I thought! She was not promising that a particular girl would be waiting, only that when the season for marriage came the Lord would help me and the right girl to find each other. The burden was lifted! But that witness came only after the trial of faith!
From that moment, I left the matter in the Lord’s hands. I really tried to be a good and faithful missionary. She dated and participated fully in school and institute activities. We wrote weekly. The weeks turned to months. Then a year. A year and a half. Still, we were writing. And when the day of return finally arrived, there she was with my parents and siblings as I stepped off the plane. The next evening, I proposed. And here she is today, my beautiful eternal companion, Pat, as we are now in our 62nd year of marriage! Of course, not all pre-mission romances turn out as did ours; and not every missionary’s sacrifice involves romance. But that isn’t the point! The point is that when we don’t shrink and move forward along our own customized path of discipleship, the Lord’s reassuring witness inevitably follows in due course.
IV
Lesson Three: Not shrinking in moments of crisis means remembering what you already know. Following Ranger School, I was assigned as an infantry platoon leader with a battalion of the 25th Infantry Division, stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Pat and I were thrilled! We arrived in Hawaii in May 1965 looking forward to three years in the balmy trade winds of the islands. We found an idyllic little cottage on the beach on the North Shore of Oahu. But our idyll was short-lived. Six months later, our battalion received orders for Vietnam.
The night I left, we sat silently on the sofa in our little cottage, holding hands and listening to the surf lapping against the shore. A military friend in our ward agreed to drive me to Hickam Air Force Base near Pearl Harbor for my 2 a.m. flight to Vietnam. At the fateful hour, I held her in my arms one last time and then stepped through the door, closing it behind me. I looked back at that door that now separated us and wondered if I had just seen her for the last time. My friend and I drove silently through the darkened sugar cane and pineapple fields, my heart in agony. Then, suddenly, there flashed into my mind’s eye a brilliant memory! I remembered! I saw Pat kneeling across from me at the altar of the holy temple as we were sealed for time and eternity. In that instant, though the future was no less uncertain, I knew with surety that no one could take my Pat from me. We belonged to each other! Forever! When I reached the air base, I telephoned her. She was still awake! We visited briefly, laughed a little, and said farewell. But it was different than before. Though midnight, for me the sun was already rising.
For her part, Pat did not shrink. Following a spiritual impression, she remained in Hawaii in our little cottage, even though the other officers’ wives in our battalion returned to the U.S. Mainland. When I was wounded ten months later and returned to Hawaii for surgery, she was there waiting for me.
The teaching? In the midst of crisis or doubt remember what you already know!
V
Life is an ongoing, unending series of uncertainties to face and decisions to be made.
- Not shrinking means facing them squarely. Rarely is there an easy route up the cliff.
- Not shrinking means moving forward to do the right thing, waiting upon the Lord. Waiting upon Him means we recognize that the spiritual witness often—even usually—comes after the trial.
- Not shrinking means in moments of uncertainty or doubt remembering what you already know. “[R]emember, remember that it is upon the Rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that [we] must build our foundation”. [10] If we build our foundation on Christ Jesus, we cannot fail!
How firm a foundation, ye Saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word!
What more can he say than to you he hath said,
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?
Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake. [11]
Notes
[1] Kristin M. Yee, Liahona, Nov. 2024, pp. 57-59.
[2] Kristin M. Yee, “And I Partook”, used by permission of Altus Fine Art, 1063 E. 50 S., American Fork, UT.
[3] Doctrine & Covenants 19:16-19.
[4] Elder David A. Bednar, “Accepting the Lord’s Will and Timing”, Church Educational System Devotional, March 3, 2013, at the University of Texas Arlington.
[5] Id
[6] See President Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail”, Liahona, Nov. 2020, pp. 92-95.
[7] See Note III.
[8] See Luke 22:43.
[9] Book of Mormon, Ether 12:6.
[10] Book of Mormon, Helaman 5:12.
[11] Hymns, No.85, “How Firm a Foundation”, verses 1,3 and 7.