Sure Paths, Strong Guardrails, and Safe Havens
Henry J. Eyring
July 20, 2022
I am grateful for the opportunity to share a few thoughts in this graduation ceremony at BYU-Idaho. It is an honor to be with you, celebrating one of life’s great achievements, college graduation. Congratulations to you and those who have helped you reach this milestone.
I also feel gratitude for beloved visitors to be recognized this evening. As noted at the beginning of this gathering, we will hear from President Henry B. Eyring and Church Commissioner of Education, Clark G. Gilbert, both past presidents of this great educational institution. I am grateful to have known them as dear friends for a long time.
I am also glad to recognize two Ricks College professors of Religion who are with us. In fact, they are in-laws to one another—Mel Hammond and Keith Sellers.
This evening, I would like to share several stories and a few impressions that may be beneficial to us. I have a feeling that we can learn together through the whisperings of the Spirit to our hearts and minds. We will consider sure paths, strong guardrails, and safe havens.
Four weeks ago, Sister Eyring and I, along with our youngest son, Matthew, enjoyed several days of exercising and taking in the beauty of Sun Valley, Idaho. My extended family members, including siblings and cousins, love that spot. In particular, my mother, Kathleen Johnson Eyring, has cherished it for decades.
Though now bedridden, she loved hiking the trails above the Big Wood River in the shadow of Bald Mountain, known commonly as “Baldy.”
Perhaps you have seen or experienced a trail like the one that accesses a seemingly precarious perch high above Ketchum and Sun Valley. The path to the lookout is narrow, enough so that people meeting from opposite directions must negotiate passage. Both have to take at least one foot off the level, compacted path and stand on the steep, unstable, volcanic clay that makes up Baldy and its sister peaks.
Of course, I would have no qualms if the path included a sturdy handrail. But without such a barrier, I can’t fully enjoy the scene and experience.
Sure Paths
A sure path with strong guardrails and safe havens can inspire bravery and confident decisions when the stakes are high, even perilous. You can recall a true story from the Book of Mormon: one of bravery in obtaining the plates of Laban. Following several failed attempts by Nephi and his brothers, Nephi wrote this compelling record of the danger they undertook:
And it was by night; and I caused that they should hide themselves without the walls. And after they had hid themselves, I, Nephi, crept into the city and went forth towards the house of Laban.
And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. (1 Nephi 4:5-6)
As this story of Nephi shows, the sure path to obtaining an important outcome is rarely a straight path. I remember carrying light-blue envelopes while going house-to-house as a young Aaronic Priesthood holder, collecting fast offerings in the Rexburg Sixth Ward.
The route from one house to another was precisely known. And I had a companion to share the responsibility of receiving sacred funds. Still, I felt a sense of personal trust and accountability. I was acting under the authority of my bishop, Clayter Forsgren.
As another example of a sure path, President Eyring and Keith Sellers team taught a religion class for almost six years while President Eyring presided over Ricks College. This allowed President Eyring to travel back and forth to Church Headquarters, fulfilling his presidential responsibilities. Keith was a gospel scholar from the start of his career in the Church Educational System, in the 1950s. He provided gospel tutelage for President Eyring, and they dearly loved teaching the gospel together.
Strong Guardrails
In recent general conference addresses, President Russel M. Nelson has urged us to stay on the covenant path. That path provides strong guardrails. When I was a green bishop in North Salt Lake, there was a member of the ward who treated me like a son. In fact, I got a hug every time she came within ten feet of me. She was Bonnie Hammond, mother of our BYU-Idaho colleague Todd and wife of Elder F. Melvin Hammond, a General Authority of the Church for many years and a Ricks College professor from 1966 to 1989.
Bonnie knew me when I was a third grader at Lincoln Elementary, just a stone’s throw from the Hammond home in Rexburg at the time. Twenty years later, in North Salt Lake, where we both lived, she gave me “guardrail” hugs. Bonnie seemed to squeeze out of me any tendency to stray from the sure path. Now, she has followed that path through the veil between this life and the Celestial Kingdom. You and I are left to qualify for Bonnie Hammond hugs in Heaven.
Safe Havens
Along the way through life, we can qualify to find safe havens, places to rest physically and recharge spiritually. Elder Hammond told this story of qualifying for a safe haven that preserved his life.
It was more than sixty years ago, in late October. Young Mel and another college student had found part-time work loading beets onto railroad cars, a hard way to earn tuition money. At the end of their back-breaking shift, the two of them jumped on a large motorcycle and started back home. The night was stormy, with a mix of rain and snow, as is often the case when winter comes on in Southeast Idaho.
As the young men sped along in the darkness, a car coming in the opposite direction turned in front of them; the driver failed to see their motorcycle. Elder Hammond later recalled:
We slammed head-first into the grill of that car. Still, to this day, I sometimes see in my mind’s eye those two headlights getting closer, closer, and closer, and hearing that horrible mind-shattering crash.
Mel and the driver of the motorcycle were fortunate to survive. But, at the hospital, the doctors debated amputating Mel’s right foot. Fortunately, an inspired priesthood blessing was given by his father, with the bishop attending. In that blessing, Mel was promised that he would walk and run again.
Following the blessing, Mel’s mother informed the physicians that she wouldn’t allow them to amputate, that they were to sew the torn foot together, and that the Lord would do the rest.
But for two months, Mel lay all but immobile in a hospital bed in St. Anthony. In addition, there were other hard consequences. A Ricks College basketball scholarship was revoked. And for the next six months, Mel was on crutches.
However, there were miracles as well. The mangled foot healed. In the ensuing year, Mel qualified to play basketball for the Ricks College Junior Varsity team. He met a vivacious red-haired girl, Bonnie, who changed the course of his life. She encouraged him to serve a mission, and he gave his all in service to Spanish-speaking people in Texas and New Mexico. His desires changed. He determined to give himself to the Lord and His Church.
Our Savior’s Perfect Wisdom, Love and Power
Each of us can do the same. Our Savior knows us perfectly. It is knowledge that He bought at infinite cost. As Isaiah recorded, speaking messianically:
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)
During your time as a BYU-Idaho student, you have been blessed with sure paths, strong guardrails, and safe havens. You have also enjoyed the perfect wisdom, love, and power of our Savior. That can continue to be the case as you graduate from this university which is guided by prophecy and supported by the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As you move forward, building on experiences had here, you and this Church will grow steadily stronger, to the betterment of our Heavenly Father’s children.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.