It is a bit intimidating to be asked to speak at devotional. However, I know you are faithful young people who are here listening because you want to live and do what the Lord wants. I have prayed much about what I should speak on and I pray now that the spirit of the Lord will attend us so that what I say will be of benefit to you and help you move forward on your path of life.
In October general conference, I had a distinct impression that we need to prepare now for what is to come, so I want to visit with you about what may lie ahead in for us this life. The Lord has said, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”[1] He has also admonished us to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”[2] Finally he has told us “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”[3]
I am reminded of a story retold by President Howard W. Hunter:
“It told of the less-than-spectacular career of a quarterback on the football team of a small, rural high school. This young man managed to make the team, but it was clear he was not going to be all-state or all-American. Indeed, it didn’t look like he was going to be all-anything, except perhaps all battered and bruised. He was the fourth of the four quarterbacks.
By season’s end he had never been called into a game and had given up hope. During the final game of the year he pulled off his shoes, wrapped himself in a blanket, and settled down on the bench to watch his buddies play.
Midway through the game he heard the coach shout his name. He was startled and wondered if he had been mistaken. Then it came again, right from the coach’s lips, ‘Hey, you! Get in there and move the ball!’
What should he do? His first impulse was to lapse into a coma. His second was to pretend he didn’t hear. His third was to say, ‘Wait, coach. Wait while I put on my shoes.’ He did the only manly thing. Strapping on his helmet as he ran, he made straight for the huddle; his white-stockinged feet were conspicuous to the players on both teams, as well as to the spectators and the coach, who also must have been ready to lapse into a coma.
He called the play, but the shock of his first game was obviously a little disconcerting. By the time he took the snap from center he had forgotten the play he had called. His teammates moved to the right, but he gamely went left. There, alone against the world, he met the opposition head-on and was swallowed up in the snarl of the onrushing linemen.
He said later, ‘No one expected me to make a touchdown. Even running the wrong way was understandable. But there was no excuse for a quarterback without shoes.’”[4]
I have felt impressed to talk about preparing for what may be ahead for each of us on our road of life. The challenge is that none of us can see far down the road. We can choose the road that we start on but we cannot see where it leads. In addition, there are detours in our road of life that sometimes force us to choose a different path for a while. There are also forks in the road that allow us to take different paths than the one we began on. I believe that if we move forward with the right tools, we will be successful on the paths our lives take, whatever those paths may be.
I would first like to visit with you about some of the possibilities that lie ahead and then give you some tools to take along so that you can take full advantage of the opportunities that will come to you. All of you are here at school for a purpose. Many of you have specific goals in mind and you are working to achieve those goals. We need to have goals and we need to pursue those goals. As you move ahead in life you will have to make choices as to whether to change those goals and pursue other endeavors temporarily or long term. Success in life is not necessarily determined by whether or not we reach every goal we set. Most of you have heard the poem entitled “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.[5]
Unexpected opportunities will come to each of us as we move down the road of life. The question is, “What will we do when we are faced with those opportunities?” Sometimes those opportunities come to us as invitations from the Lord to serve others in unexpected ways. We must not only be prepared to recognize those invitations but we must be prepared so we have the ability to make a choice when those opportunities do come. Some of the choices we make will bring worldly recognition and some choices will bring no recognition at all from our fellow men. Opportunities to choose will also come at times when we least expect them.
There will also be times in our lives when we may not get to choose the road we travel for a time. An example would be losing a job. But the opportunities for choice will return, sometimes quicker than we expect and those opportunities may come from unexpected directions. Remember – when the door of opportunity appears, the chance for preparation is past.
Another possibility on our road is that Satan will try to put roadblocks up to divert us from the path we should be following. Again, we must be able to recognize those and have the tools to go around those roadblocks and stay on the road we should be traveling. We live in the last days and the rate at which things are happening will continue to increase. The work of the Lord will move forward at an accelerating pace as will Satan’s attempt at derailing or diverting us from that work. Satan’s distractions may not come in the form of discouragement but in the form of worldly recognition.
So the question is “How do we face this life of unknowns, with forks in the road and roadblocks and sometimes transfers to roads we do not choose and still move ahead and be contributors to the work of the Lord and to each other?” First, “Do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities but pray for abilities equal to your tasks.”[6]
Preparation is essential, living worthy of the spirit is essential but having every skill for every responsibility and choice that will come our way is not essential. We need to plan, prepare and work and move forward with purpose in our lives but we cannot expect everything to happen as we have planned. We must be open to those unexpected opportunities that will come to us from time to time. In fact the Lord will often give us those opportunities because we have what is needed to bless someone else’s life or the ability to move his work forward. As is often the case, these opportunities may move us out of our comfort zone.
I propose that each of us needs 3 essential tools in our tool belt so we can move forward with confidence and make choices that will bring us joy, bless the lives of those around us and move the work of the Lord forward. These tools are: first, An Eye of Faith, second, A Willing Mind, and third, A Humble Heart.
My first tool for your tool belt then is an “Eye of Faith.” This tool allows us to move down a path that may be dimly lit or only lit for a short way. As we place our faith in the Savior, we will come to understand that he will lead us onto those paths that can bless us and others. We may not be able to see very far down the road but the Lord can and if we are pursuing a path that will be destructive to us, the Lord will warn us. Nephi exhibited this type of faith when he said that he “would go and do the things the Lord had commanded” even though he “was lead by the spirit not knowing beforehand the things that [he] should do.”[7] So, even though he could not see where the path led, he had faith to follow that path.
Pres. Monson spoke of this when he told the following story.
“Many years ago, on an assignment to Tahiti, I was talking to our mission president, President Raymond Baudin, about the Tahitian people. They are known as some of the greatest seafaring people in the world. Brother Baudin, who speaks French and Tahitian but little English, was trying to describe to me the secret of the success of the Tahitian sea captains. He said, ‘they are amazing. The weather may be terrible, the vessels may be leaky, there may be no navigational aids except their inner feelings and the stars in the heavens, but they pray and they go.’ He repeated that phrase three times. There is a lesson in that statement. We need to pray, and then we need to act. Both are important.”[8]
As we utilize this tool and move ahead on the path that we have chosen, the Lord will light the way ahead of us.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego also illustrated this when they defied the King’s order to bow to the golden image. They said:
“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”[9]
These 3 young men did not know where the path would lead but they knew that they were on the path the Lord wanted them on so they moved ahead with confidence and stayed on that path just as Abinidi did with King Noah. Because they all stayed on the path the Lord had asked them to be on, they were ultimately saved even though the temporal outcome of Abinidi’s trials was different that the outcome of the 3 young men’s. As is also illustrated by these examples though, faith must be joined with preparation.
My second tool for your tool belt then is a “Willing Mind”. This quality deals with our willingness to learn all we can while we are in mortality and then act or choose to act on that knowledge. In essence it is the preparation of our minds. We should never stop learning and growing. We need to take advantage of opportunities that come to us. The Lord has blessed us with a mind and he expects us to use it. He also expects us to be up and doing and not sitting around waiting for things to happen to us. This is acting and not waiting to be acted upon. This quality involves learning but it also involves actively making choices for ourselves. I think of Victor Frankel’s experiences in the concentration camps of World War II. He said this:
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”[10]
Those who acted faired much better than those who were passive. The attribute of a willing mind means that we are looking for ways to grow, that we are seeking and striving. A passage in a book I read this past summer struck me. It stated,
“To have a goal is the important thing, and to work towards it. Then if you decide you wish to do something different, you will at least have been moving, you have been going somewhere, you will have been learning.”[11]
I would add that even if you do not “decide” to do something different. Even if you are asked to do something different or forced to do something different, you will be prepared because “you will at least have been moving, you will have been learning.” Just remember that what you are doing and learning today will determine what opportunities the Lord can give you in the future.
In D & C 84:85 the Lord says: “Treasure up in your minds continually the words of life”. Your time at BYU–Idaho is a precious time because it is a concentrated time of learning. Do you have a willing mind? Willing to learn, willing to experience, willing to stretch? The Lord has also said, “Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning even by study and also by faith.”[12] But remember that our ability to learn comes from the Lord.
My third tool for your tool belt then is a “Humble Heart”. To me this entails not only the ability to accept the Lord’s will for us but also the quality of being teachable and willing to accept course correction from the Lord and from others. To accept correction without being offended. It also means taking the challenges of life in stride. This is beautifully illustrated by this story as told by President Faust:
“This story is about the great scientist Henry Eyring, who served on the Bonneville Stake high council. He was responsible for the welfare farm, which included a field of onions that needed to be weeded. At that time, he was nearly 80 and suffering from painful bone cancer. He assigned himself to do weeding even though the pain was so great that he pulled himself along on his stomach with his elbows. The pain was too great for him to kneel. Yet he smiled, laughed, and talked happily with the others who were there that day weeding that field of onions. I now quote what [President] Eyring said of this incident: ‘after all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone [said to] him, “Henry good heavens! You didn’t pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway.” Dad just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway. I asked him, ‘Dad how could you make a joke out of that?’ He said something to me that I will never forget . . . He said, ‘Hal, I wasn’t there for the weeds.’”[13]
Humility is often mistaken as thinking less of ourselves than others but it is not that. It is the ability to not think about ourselves at all, to truly lose ourselves. Elder Oaks illustrates this with the following story.
“Some modern pioneers receive their tests at bedside. One sister wrote: ‘my mother cared for her mother until [Grandma] was ninety-eight. My dad now has Alzheimer’s disease, and my mother patiently cares for him. . . . The amazing part of this is the attitude of my mother. She always thought she would travel after she retired. She has always kept a beautiful home, loving to entertain others. She maintains her home as best she can, but has had to put aside many things that bring her joy. The amazing part is the joy my mother radiates. Her attitude is so beautiful. She finds real joy in the simple things of life. She is the pillar of strength to the whole family as she uplifts us all with her positive attitude.’ ”[14]
Joseph Smith understood this attribute of having a humble heart. He had many experiences that required humility. The Lord corrected him on many occasions but he was humble enough to know that the Lord was trying to help him be successful so he learned to take correction. He learned from it and moved ahead. The Lord can help us to move ahead on our path of life as we humbly go to him and seek his guidance. He has said, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”[15] You see it really does not matter where we serve in this world or in the kingdom of God but it matters very much how we serve. Now let us look at all three of these tools together. All of us have aspirations. We all want to be something and most of us have started down the path that will allow us to reach that goal we have set. However, because we cannot see what is over the next hill, we do not know if the path we are on will have a detour or road block in it or if there will be a fork in the road. The Lord knows what the pathways of our lives have in store for us. He will sometimes direct us to a fork in the road and allow us to choose which path we take. He may also invite us to choose a particular path because the growth we will experience will prepare us for something that will come later in life or because of the service we can give.
Because life is not a smooth road with no bumps or detours and because these bumps and detours can help us grow to become more like our Heavenly Father, we need to have the tools of faith, willingness, and humility available to us and ready to use at all times. We cannot afford to forget these or put them aside because we think we know best. Remember “to be learned is good, if [we] hearken to the councils of God.”[16] I like to think of these tools as 3 blades on the propeller of an airplane. If you have all three blades then the propeller is balanced and the plane can get proper thrust and move forward at a rate that will allow it to fly. If however, one of the blades is missing, then the propeller is out of balance and progress is stopped or badly hampered and the plane cannot fly. What will happen if one of these three tools or blades is missing from your life? Faith is not effective if you do not have a willing mind and the works to accompany that faith. Learning is only good in the eyes of the Lord if you accompany it with humility. Humility is self-righteousness if you do not trust (or have faith) in the Lord.
The Lord wants to bless us and help us. He wants us to grow and progress to become like him. He really is “in the details of our lives. He knows us perfectly.”[17] He will not make life easy for us but he will provide a way for us to move forward. It may not be easy but it will be possible as we have faith, humility and a willingness to move forward. Think of Joseph Smith and all the hard experiences he had. Remember what the Lord told him in D & C 122:7 “know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” The same is true for us. The Lord has great things in store for us. He wants us to have the riches of eternity. He said in D & C 58:3 “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.” But it does not have to be tribulation. It can simply be detours on what we consider to be our road of life. I will give you one example from my life. I am an entomologist by training. I study insects. I love this and biology in general. I love to teach biology. However, currently I am serving as the Department Chair for Teacher Education. I have had no specific training to be a department chair, and I have also not had any specific training in teacher education. I never expected to be a department chair and I really never expected that opportunity to come in teacher education but the opportunity did come. It has been an amazing learning experience. I have grown in ways that would not have been possible in any other way. At this point in my life the Lord has invited me to move out of my comfort zone and onto a different path for a time. We may not know why the Lord directs us in certain ways or why we are given certain opportunities. The reasons may not be made clear until after this life but if we will trust in the Lord, He will lead us. When we face a fork in the path of life or a detour on what we consider to be our path or a possible road block, instead of asking why me, we need to ask the Lord for direction, we need to listen and then we need to act on what we believe to be the right path at that point in our lives. We need to use these three tools to move ahead. Do not be blinded by possible worldly success or worldly recognition in the choices you make. It may be that what we learned to this point is what the Lord needs but that it will be on a path we would not normally choose and that it will not bring worldly recognition. Do not be afraid of going in directions you had not planned. Some of the experiences you will have on these other pathways of life will be your most rewarding. You will go places and do things in your life that you never dreamed of but many of these opportunities will only come to you as you have faith, are willing and learning, and humbly move forward. If the door opens, will you have the faith to go through it? Will you be prepared to move through it? Will you humbly accept the Lord’s invitation to change course? Sometimes we put on blinders so we only see straight down the path we have selected. We blind ourselves to other opportunities because we are not willing or close our eyes, ears or minds to the spirit inviting us in other directions.
These experiences will be more exciting and will help you grow if you have these tools and your propeller is complete, if you have, first, An Eye of Faith, second, A Willing Mind, and third, A Humble Heart. I think the 23rd Psalm says it better than I can.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”[18]
Remember, “To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven, therefore, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding; In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths, for, if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”[19]
May the Lord bless you on your road of life. May you have an eye of faith and know that the Lord is mindful of you and is there with you every step of the way. May you have a willing mind and seek to learn and be actively engaged in moving forward. May you have a humble heart and seek to do the will of the Lord and accept correction and guidance. I testify that God lives and loves each of us and is mindful of us. He will guide us on our pathway of life if we will allow him to. I pray that each of us will strive to develop these tools and move ahead with confidence. May the Lord bless you I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Ecclesiastes 3:1
[2] Proverbs 3:5-6
[3] D&C 38:30
[4] Howard W. Hunter, “Bind on Thy Sandals,” Ensign, May 1978, 34
[5] Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken,” Mountain Interval, 1920
[6] Thomas S. Monson, “Three Goals to Guide You,” Ensign, November 2007, 118-121
[7] 1 Nephi 3:7 and 1 Nephi 4:6
[8] Thomas S. Monson, “They Pray and They Go,” Liahona, July 2002, 54-57
[9] Daniel 3:17-18
[10] Victor Frankel, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Simon and Schuster, 1984, 86
[11] Louis L’Amour, “The Lonesome Gods,” Bantam Books, 1984, 134
[12] D&C 88:118
[13] James E. Faust, “Some Great Thing,” Liahona, January 2002, 55-56
[14] Dallin H. Oaks, “Modern Pioneers,” Ensign, November 1989, 64
[15] D&C 112:10
[16] 2 Nephi 9:29
[17] Neal A. Maxwell, “Becoming a Disciple,” Ensign, Jun 1996, 12
[18] Psalms 23
[19] Ecclesiastes 3:1, Proverbs 3:5-6, D&C 38:30