Elder Kerr, President Wilkes, President Clark, honored guests, administration, faculty, graduates, family, and friends, we honor and recognize you this morning. I am humbled and grateful for the privilege of speaking today.
President J. Reuben Clark Jr. taught that, “We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer.”[1] Thank you, Adam, Melissa, Douglas, and Sharee for helping to establish a spiritual foundation for these exercises. Also, I thank those who have prayed, spoken, and contributed today.
I express appreciation to President Wilkes for his many years of devoted service, and extend congratulations and best wishes to him and Sister Wilkes as the new President and Matron of the Billings Montana Temple. We welcome President Kim Clark and his wife, Sue. When I first met President Clark seven years ago in connection with the Boston Temple, I knew that I was going to be working with a man of unusual gifts and talents. I value highly his sound judgment, wise counsel, and spiritual sensitivity, which helped resolve the challenges that we faced.
Each president of this university has succeeded in lifting it, in building on the solid foundation established by his predecessors.
A translator of the King James Bible recognizing the work of earlier translators and how he and his associates were blessed by those who had gone before them: “We are like dwarves sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours.”[2]
Great giants have presided over this university. President Clark, we are confident you have been raised up for this very day and with Heaven’s help will see clearly. Similarly, all of us are better today and are raised higher because of those who have gone before. The hand of the Lord is upon us and upon this work.
I like the word “mindful.” Ammon taught that God “is mindful of this people, . . . a branch of the tree of Israel. . . . God is mindful of every people; . . . yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth.”[3] I testify that whether you recognize it or not, each graduate seated here today has experienced miracles—health, finances, protection, spiritual healing through the Atonement, and much more—as evidence of Heavenly Father being “mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.”[4]
Lay the Right Foundation
My message to you graduates today can be summarized in four words: “Lay the right foundation.”
In February 1853, Brigham Young led others in a groundbreaking ceremony for the Salt Lake Temple. The workmen dug the trenches and laid the foundation for the temple using layers of large sandstone blocks, a five-year effort. In 1858, with the coming of Johnston’s Army, the trenches were filled with dirt and covered over to protect the work. After the Army left, the foundation was uncovered. Brigham Young made an inspection and found that the large sandstone foundation blocks had cracked and were unstable. Such a foundation could never support a temple that would have to endure through the Millennium. He instructed the workers to take out the faulty foundation and lay a new one.
Fourteen years after the groundbreaking, the foundation of the temple was complete and the heavy granite blocks of the upper walls could be put in place. Knowingly, President Brigham Young confirmed, “The foundation has to be right.”[5]
My young friends, your foundation has to be right. You will be successful to the degree that you have established a solid foundation of doctrine, principles, and eternal truths.
The Foundation of the Church
I witness to you that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and all its institutions and programs are like the Salt Lake Temple, on the right foundation. Essential foundation stones that have been part of every gospel dispensation from Adam to Joseph Smith include revelation, scriptures, priesthood and priesthood keys, and ordinances and covenants.
With these foundation stones in place, “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth”[6] was organized, and being “built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.”[7]
I testify that prophets and revelation are the lifeblood of this work. One month following the death of President Harold B. Lee, then Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said: “We either have a prophet or we have nothing; and having a prophet, we have everything.”[8]
I would like to paraphrase his statement as follows: “We either have revelation or we have nothing; and having revelation, we have everything.”
Recently, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, speaking at the Washington D. C. Joseph Smith Symposium, said:
"Joseph Smith’s teachings about the significance of revelation in our day are clearly the principal difference between Mormons and our brothers and sisters in other religious traditions. This is not a technicality. For us it is big. It is the foundation of our Church doctrine and governance, and it is also fundamental to personal conversion, personal decision-making, and how we understand and apply the inspired texts we call scriptures."[9]
We have the hope, even the confidence, as you graduate today that you believe this, and because you believe you will seek revelation, search the scriptures, honor the priesthood and those who hold the keys, and receive the ordinances and keep the covenants. As you firmly position these foundation stones in your lives individually and in your families, you will feel comfortable with these four suggestions:
1. Increase in personal righteousness.
2. Pay a full tithe and a generous offering.
3. Seek the blessings of an eternal family.
4. Be a person of integrity.
As we consider these suggestions in greater detail, ponder how each one is now a part of your foundation or needs strengthening.
Increase in Personal Righteousness
Lonie, my wife, and I love and respect you graduates. We believe that you sincerely strive to grow closer to the Lord and become like Him. My parents helped me understand how to do this.
I grew up in the small farming community of Mapleton, Utah, the sixth of ten children. My father died 39 years ago; my 93-year-old mother lives yet in Provo. My father was the consummate priesthood holder at home and church, although he never served in a visible leadership calling. His greatest success was as a righteous priesthood holder at home. He presided over the family and was assisted by my mother—his companion, partner, and counselor. As companions they counseled together on all matters pertaining to our home and family. They gave us a precious heritage of home-centered religious habits. These private practices at home are not measured nor reported, unlike the institutional practices that appear in the Church’s quarterly activity and attendance reports.
The private religious practices that we saw at home and that became the foundation of my life, include personal kneeling prayer, night and morning; kneeling family prayer night and morning; daily personal study of the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon; reading regularly the words of the prophets and other Church leaders in the Ensign and other Church publications; and fasting as counseled the first Sunday of the month and at other times as needed.
While prayer in our home was practiced and taught, truly it was more “caught” than it was ever formally “taught.” Many times as a boy I walked into my parents’ bedroom and found either my father or mother kneeling at the side of their bed saying a personal prayer. They did not have to tell me, although I am sure they did, that we should kneel in prayer night and morning: I simply saw them do it.
Family scripture reading was “hit and miss” as a boy growing up in the 1940s and 50s. But I do have a vivid memory of my parents’ love, reverence, and respect for the Book of Mormon and the counsel of the prophets to strengthen and bless their family. They believed in the promises they heard from President Joseph F. Smith that for families who hold a family night, as it was called before family home evening, the children would not go astray. Our family nights began and ended with prayer. For a lesson my father often read stories from A Voice from the Dust, a simplified version of the Book of Mormon, followed by games, activities, and refreshments.
With the foundation of personal righteousness seen in my parents, it was easy to develop the same patterns in my own life, especially during my mission. President Hinckley’s comment about the impact of his mission on him was the same for me. “Something happened inside of me in England that was so significant and deep-rooted that I have never gotten over it. It is the same thing I have seen happen to thousands of other young men and women who commit themselves to the Lord and their faith in Him becomes their anchor. Everything good that has happened to me, is a result of what happened while I lived in that land.”[10]
Thus, during my mission in Texas and New Mexico I made commitments to never let a day go by without kneeling in personal prayer and reading and studying the scriptures. I continue to keep those commitments that I made over 40 years ago.
To those who have served full-time missions, we thank you. We trust that your mission and your home life had a similar impact on you. Serving others and developing these habits bring great joy. We urge all young men, and the sisters who choose to serve, who have not yet served, to prepare for, to be worthy of, and to qualify for a mission call.
These daily habits and practices are part of my foundation of personal righteousness. They are what the Apostle Paul described about those Saints who are rooted, grounded, settled, and established.[11]
Pay a full tithe and a generous offering
You, your parents, friends, family, and the Church have all contributed a significant amount of money to bring you to these commencement exercises today. We have every expectation that you will show your love for the Lord and those who have helped you by paying a full tithe and a generous fast offering. President Gordon B. Hinckley recently reminded us: “The payment of tithes is the real test of a testimony of its members.”[12]
The most important financial decision you will make in mortality is to pay a full tithe and a generous offering. Paying tithing opens the windows of heaven to both spiritual and temporal blessings. Temporal blessings do come through Malachi’s promised open windows. Perhaps you have experienced such blessings as unexpected money has arrived; or you received an appliance, an automobile, or a television, all of which ran beyond their life expectancy; or maybe a job offer came just in the nick of time. All of this happens regularly. Most, if not all, can testify it is so, but sometimes we emphasize the temporal blessings to the neglect of the spiritual. Among the most noted blessings passing through the windows of heaven are spiritual guidance for the wise use of the nine tenths of the income you keep, personal revelation, spiritual power, sound judgment, spiritual healing, and peace. I am convinced that some of the most valuable blessings that came through those windows to my wife and me were the spiritual guidance to strengthen our marriage and raise our six children.
Lonie and I dated in high school; she waited for me while I served a two and one-half year mission. We married 33 days after I was released from my mission. I returned to BYU. Lonie was working at a bank, and the plan was to have her work to support us while I studied full time to finish the three and one-half years needed to obtain my bachelor’s degree and a teaching certificate. Within three months we were expecting our first son, and with the pregnancy she was too sick to work. I found a job and worked part-time, (sometimes I worked two jobs), studied full-time, and added another child, a daughter, and graduated three and one-half years later, just as we had planned. Then I began teaching seminary in Mesa, Arizona.
The income from my part-time jobs, my full-time summer work, and my wife’s stay-at-home child care for a working mother met our basic needs and part of the tuition. We obtained student loans to finance the tuition for the closing semesters of my undergraduate education. Here now is a word of counsel: If you have student loans, retire the debt as quickly as possible and practical.
President Thomas S. Monson gave wise counsel to us about debt in the April 2005 General Conference:
"Avoid the philosophy and excuse that yesterday’s luxuries have become today’s necessities. They aren’t necessities unless we ourselves make them such. Many of our young couples today want to begin with multiple cars and the type of home Mother and Dad worked a lifetime to obtain. Consequently, they enter into long-term debt on the basis of two salaries. Perhaps too late they find that changes do come, women have children, sickness stalks some families, jobs are lost, natural disasters and other situations occur, and no longer can the mortgage payment, based on the income from two salaries, be made."[13]
I testify that for the Jensen family the promises in Malachi about the Lord opening the windows of heaven are true: the devourer has been rebuked, the fruits of our ground have not been destroyed, and we have been a blessed family.[14]
Seek the blessings of an Eternal family
A vision of what a family can be is taught in part with this truth: “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.”[15] Family relationships that we develop here will continue into the eternities.
The family is the basic unit in society. More important, it is the basic unit of eternity. “is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”[16] The adversary is attacking the family like never before in the history of the world. And not only is he attacking marriage and the family, but everything leading to it.
Recently, Elder Dallin H. Oaks spoke of dating dying on many college campuses and being replaced by “hanging out.” One recent U.S. study reports only 50% of women seniors were asked out on six or more dates by men since coming to college. One-third of women had been asked out on two or fewer dates. Male initiative in dating has declined dramatically. While dating is much more common at the Church universities and institutes of religion, the reports indicate that many women felt they did not date enough.
To the single young men, we hope your status is not permanent. To the young women, continue to trust in the promises of the Lord. We remind you that a definition of dating is a man and a woman paired together, often with other couples. It is usually something planned in advance, and any expenses are usually paid for by the young man. We urge young men to take the initiative to ask. Also, remember to make dating simple, inexpensive, and more frequent. At your age, hopefully, you are settling down to begin the serious commitments that lead to temple marriage.
To those who are married, we remind you that your marriage will be successful to the degree that you make Jesus Christ the center of your lives and by being, saying, and doing what He would.
Sister Jensen and I believe that you do not fall into love nor do you fall out of love. You either work your way into love or you work your way out. Marriages succeed to the degree that couples work at it in the Lord’s way.
I am reminded of a story told by a Seventy with whom I served in South America. He told of a couple who had been married many years. He bought her a new stove for the kitchen. To get it to work, you had to pump the fuel container. She tried, and it did not work. He took over and applied too much pressure. The stove exploded, which blew them through the air a significant distance. In fact, they landed in the middle of the city plaza. Astonished, the man saw his wife seated with a huge smile on her face. Bewildered, he asked why she was smiling. She said, “I am so happy! This is the first time in years that we have gone out together.” I am sure you see the application that dating and courting precede and follow the marriage ceremony.
One of the most important foundation stones in your life has to be the resolve to marry in the temple and keep the covenants you make there. Return to the temple often. Great are the promises, the counsel, and the power coming from the ordinances and covenants of the holy temple.
A treasured account in our family concerns the dating and marriage of my parents. My father dropped out of school and left home at about age 16 to work on highway construction. At age 26 he was living in Wyoming and building a road. My mother, a recent high school graduate, worked as a “soda jerk,” as they once were called, in her father’s drug store in Evanston, Wyoming. My father had drifted from the Church. He drove into Evanston several times a week to buy snacks and other things at my grandfather’s store and met my mother. A friendship formed, they dated, courted and love developed.
At the right time, dad asked mother, “Will you marry me?” She said, “Yes, Ruel, I will marry you, but only in the temple.” He put his life in order, and about eight months later they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on this very day, 19 August 1931. From these noble parents have come 10 children, 51 grandchildren, 158 great-grandchildren and 28 great-great-grandchildren.
We pray that those who are not married will have this same resolve: “Yes, I will marry you, but only in the temple!” Those who are married, may your resolve be “we will keep our marriage covenants.”
A societal trend in marriage about which prophets have spoken is the delay and postponing of marriage. The age at first marriage in the United States is increasing from age 23 for men and age 20 for women in 1960 to 27 and 25, respectively, in recent years.
This is a very worrisome trend. One of the great blessings of our day is to have prophets and seers who have clearly seen the societal enemies of our day. Their inspired teachings keep us and our priorities in order about marriage and families, including The Family: A Proclamation to the World, one of the most important prophetic declarations in your lifetime.
Be a person of integrity
The definition of integrity is “uncompromising adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty; the state of being whole or entire; a sound or unimpaired condition.”[17] The honor code at BYU-Idaho is inspired. It is designed to strengthen you spiritually in the restored gospel, enlarge you intellectually, and build character, all of which leads to lifelong learning and Christlike service. We trust that the principles, truths, and standards it establishes have become a way of life for you.
Few messages from latter-day prophets have been more direct and precise than that of honor and integrity. Some in the business world have a different value system. The lack of honesty is manifest as ethical misconduct in some segments of the business world. It has become both more prevalent and more visible in the scandals of prominent leaders in business and politics here and abroad.
My first encounter with it occurred as I served as a mission president in South America. To finalize the purchase of a building site for a meetinghouse in our mission, I was shocked by the seller’s request. He said, “As we conclude this purchase, how much will we declare in the legal documents and how much do we pass under the table so that I can avoid the high government taxes?” I said to him, “I’m sorry, but this business transaction is over if that is how we have to do this.”
A recent graduate from a Church university working in an accounting firm was censured for honestly reporting his hours. His manager told him that if he worked eight hours he ought to bill the company for ten. Are you prepared to stand up against these pressures?
Cheating and lying are becoming more common in amateur and professional sports, the news media, and even the lives of common citizens. The likelihood of being caught, as well as the penalties for doing so, has decreased.
We have every expectation that you have obeyed these truths in the honor code because they are the foundation of a Christlike character, not only for the time enrolled here but for the rest of your lives. You are true followers of Jesus Christ, His disciples under sacred covenant to be men and women of honor and integrity.
Thank God for the Ride
I like to look at life as chapters to a book. Today you close a very significant chapter of your life and begin writing a new one. Some of you, perhaps all, have some anxiety, fears, and worries about the future.
In a time of wars and much conflict in the Book of Mormon, not unlike our day, the Lord revealed a great promise to Helaman and his army as they prayed and worried about their future:
"Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances . . . ; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.
And we did take courage."[18]
Peace, faith, courage—wonderful foundation stones for life.
President Gordon B. Hinckley has shared a wonderful insight from a newspaper article he read about some who may think:
"That marriage is a cottage surrounded by perpetual hollyhocks to which a perpetually young and handsome husband comes home to a perpetually young and [beautiful] wife. When the hollyhocks wither and boredom and bills appear the divorce courts are jammed.
"Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.
"Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.
"The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."[19]
With the help of parents, family, friends, priesthood leaders, teachers, and advisors, you have examined and reexamined your foundation. Some stones were removed and were replaced by others. I sincerely hope and pray that among your foundation stones are the four I have mentioned today:
1. Increase in personal righteousness.
2. Pay a full tithe and a generous offering.
3. Seek the blessings of an eternal family
4. Be a person of integrity.
Rest assured that this Church is secure on the foundation of revelation, scriptures, priesthood and keys, and ordinances and covenants. Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone.
As one of His Special Witnesses I testify that He lives. He and His Father appeared to and spoke with Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is true. I have a witness of it and declare it to you. The holy priesthood and associated keys are on the earth today. Prophets, seers, apostles, and revelators hold all the keys of the kingdom today, with President Gordon B. Hinckley as the senior apostle.
May God bless you as you go forward today, making your decisions and building your life in harmony with and upon the right foundation, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] J. Reuben Clark, in Conference Report, Oct. 1936, p. 111
[2] Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, written by John of Salisbury, In The Beginning, Alister McGrath, p. 176
[3] Alma 26:36-37
[4] Alma 26:36
[5] Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Every Stone a Sermon, P. 20-21
[6] Doctrine and Covenants 1:30
[7] Ephesians 2:20
[8] Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, January 1974, p. 122
[9] Dallin H. Oaks, “Joseph Smith in a Personal World,” Conference on “The Worlds of Joseph Smith,” May 6, 2005, p. 1
[10] Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 64
[11] Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:23, 2:7
[12] General Authority Training, 31 Mar 2005
[13] Thomas S. Monson, “Constant Truths for Changing Times,” Ensign, May 2005, p. 20
[14] Malachi 3:8-12
[15] Doctrine and Covenants 130:2
[16] The Family: A Proclamation to the World
[17] Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, Second Edition
[18] Alma 58:11-12
[19] Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Conversation with Single Adults,” Ensign, Mar. 1997, 58