I love to walk into the home of my sister-in-law Jennifer. She says, “Kelly, hello. Come in, I’m so happy to see you” with the most inviting voice. I would like to say in a similar way, “Hello. Welcome to BYU-Idaho. We are so happy to see you!”
President Eyring and I are looking forward to this semester with you. I hope it gives you the same warm feelings about being here that I feel at Jennifer’s home. I wish I could have welcomed each of you personally at the door. We love you.
If you are like me, you might be full of anticipation, excitement, and maybe a little fear as we begin this new year. Mostly, I can’t wait to see what will happen. Who will we meet? What will we learn? What does Heavenly Father have in store for us?
We can be sure that there will be opportunities to grow and experience joy. The opportunities to grow might be challenging, but that is what we signed up for, a challenge. If you think about any time in your life that you have really felt joy, it is because you have overcome something that might have seemed difficult or maybe even felt impossible.
President Eyring and I, and every employee at BYU-Idaho, are here to make that possible for you. It is our job, and we can’t wait to get to know you and help you find the joy that comes from learning and conquering. More importantly, BYU-Idaho is a place where you can access the help that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have promised. It is Their work, or Their “eternal purpose,” that men and women “might have joy.”[1]
In this semester, amid the pandemic and other difficult circumstances, I am planning on seeking for that promised joy. It will be ours if we honor our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Some of you responded to the prompt on the discussion board about honor. I enjoyed reading about people that you think exemplify honor.
Our son, Spencer, who is a student here, thought immediately of a BYU-Idaho professor that he had the privilege to know.
Mark Orchard was a man that I have respected for nearly my entire life, and I count myself blessed to have known him personally. Mark was instrumental in creating the college success course that each of us have the opportunity to take. However, long before Brother Orchard was my professor, he was my Primary teacher. I have many fond memories of learning from Mark’s sweet spirit and energetic personality. Most impactful in my life has been the lesson of honor he taught, not just in the classroom, but in everything he did.
Brother Orchard honored his divine identity as a son of God and was a powerful tool in the Lord’s hands. He conducted himself with complete integrity, treating me with the same love and respect he would show to the Savior or anyone else he met. Mark was never concerned with what anyone thought of him and was always striving to make our Father in Heaven proud.
Because of Brother Orchard’s example, I can find the courage to stand in holy places and honor my Father in Heaven no matter the circumstance. Whether I am with my friends, in uncharted spiritual territory, or even by myself, tempted to think that no one is watching, I can always remind myself that Mark would have honored God no matter the situation, and I can too.
Another student, Razak Jimoh wrote:
When I think of "honor" the first person that comes to my mind is the Lord. How I need to honor Him by keeping my sacred covenants with Him?
When I think about His love and the Atonement, it always makes me feel sober and indebted but grateful. This also makes me [want to] be honorable.
How do we show that we honor Them? Our Heavenly Father has given us two commandments. Jesus taught:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.[2]
We can give honor to Them by keeping these commandments.
Like you, I try to start my day with a prayer of gratitude. It doesn’t take long for me to begin to be filled with love for a Heavenly Father that is so kind and generous. That usually means that I can then turn that love that I feel outward to share with others.
But sometimes things aren’t going along so well, and my head is not full of gratitude. Sometimes my thoughts are not kind to myself, which makes it harder to look out for my neighbor. Does that happen to you?
This is when I need to follow the admonition of Paul to the Ephesians:
Be renewed in the spirit of your mind; . . .
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.[3]
“Edify and minister grace unto your hearers—especially when every waking hour of the day that hearer is you.”[4] We need to be kind to ourselves. I talk to myself a lot. It is much better when I say nice things and give myself grace.
When I think of loving my neighbor, my closest “neighbor” is my husband, President Eyring. He is the best! I live with the most kind and patient person on the planet. President Eyring is also very witty and can make me laugh. That is a big part of why I married him.
You will have roommates, classmates, and people you will pass in the halls as your neighbors. We are a family here at BYU-Idaho. I hope you will be watching out for each other, looking for opportunities to smile or lift one another. That is a way we can honor our Heavenly Father.
My family has a motto: We are bound, and we are bound. To us, the motto signifies that we are bound, or sealed, by eternal covenants and we are bound, or trying, to return together to our Heavenly Father.
We chose this as our motto because it acknowledges that we need each other to get there. That is true not just for my little family but for all of Heavenly Father’s children.
As part of my extended family (because I consider you family), I would love to invite you all over for a read-aloud. Because that is not physically possible, the coziness of the I-Center will have to do.
My children and grandchildren know I love books and could never leave the library without taking home as many books as we could carry. The book I want to share with you today would be Peach and Blue written by Sarah S. Kilborne with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. In this beautifully illustrated book, a blue-bellied toad who hops aimlessly around a pond meets a ripe peach who will soon fall to the ground only to become part of a pie or cobbler. Peach wants to see the world. So, Blue enlists his 15 brothers to stack one on top of the other to “pick” Peach.
Peach falls from the tree and rolls to the edge of the pond. Blue becomes her legs by pushing her around in a small bowl made of twigs and mud with slippery lily leaves on the bottom. Peach becomes Blue’s “new eyes” to see the world. Peach exclaims, “It’s a harvest of colors. You never told me about them.”
“I never saw them before,” said Blue. Peach and Blue are unlikely friends but, because of their differences, they bring joy to each other.
We need each other to experience the joy of the semester. Maybe you can help someone see the joy to be found in the sparkling white snow, or the great feeling of being alive on a crisp winter night when you can see the stars that testify of a loving Creator. Maybe you could warm someone’s soul by sharing a smile as you walk past them on the way to class. Even with our masks on, you can see a smile in someone’s eyes.
Let’s honor our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ with our gratitude for the privilege of being here at BYU-Idaho. Let’s honor Them by honoring each other with love and respect that true disciples of Jesus Christ have.
I am going to seek this joy. Let’s do it together. I have a testimony of honor and the way it can unify us in a cause. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] 2 Nephi 2:15,25.
[2] Matthew 22:37–39.
[3] Ephesians 4:23, 29.
[4] Patricia Holland, “Be Renewed in the Spirit of Your Mind,” BYU devotional, Sept. 6, 1988.