Willing to Learn

"Willing to Learn"

R. Kelly Haws

December 15, 2021

Congratulations

Elder and Sister Nielson, President and Sister Eyring, and everyone participating today, I join you in congratulating each of these graduates!

Thanks to each of you at this university who serve your students with such great commitment. And thank you to the faithful, quiet tithe-payers and donors who’ve contributed so much to make today possible.

An Inheritance of Orientation

Besides receiving a first-class education in history or engineering, there’s a feeling at this university and on this campus. You’ve felt it. You’ve learned to love it. That feeling certainly springs from the southeast Idaho values of humility, generosity, and hard work. One can hardly be around President Eyring without hearing a story or recollection of old-Brother-so-and-so from his boyhood or Sister so-and-so from last week, or someone who did something that contributed to the spirit and success of this campus. Thank you to each of you about whom we’ve heard so much and thank you to President Eyring for noticing and reminding us.

The unique spirit of BYU–Idaho partly comes from administrators, faculty, and others who have a singular focus on teaching. To borrow a phrase, while most institutions of higher learning aspire to be only communities of scholars, you have been privileged to study here among a congregation of disciple-teachers, whose roots spring from Palmyra rather than Cambridge^. [1]

The feeling on this campus comes from your deep faith in Jesus Christ. You’ve become His disciples and are prepared to bless your families, the Church, and your communities.

As a result, each of you leaves this university with more than a diploma. You’re also leaving with an inheritance, an orientation really. And you will never lose it unless you give it away. You’ve learned - to be willing - to learn. You attend devotionals after having prepared yourselves to learn. You attend class after preparing yourselves to learn. First and foremost, you’ve learned to face and trust and follow the Savior and His prophets and apostles. That will yet prove to be the greatest benefit of attending Brigham Young University–Idaho.

Aren’t Abana and Pharpar Better Rivers?

The world has changed since you began college. You were worried about housing, meal plans, and class schedules, not about vaccinations or facemasks, and you’d never even heard the term social distancing. In thinking of your experiences navigating a global black swan event, while also having learned to learn from prophets and apostles, I’ve been reminded of an experience from the Old Testament.

During Naaman’s lifetime he contracted a disease which medical authorities struggled to address. In fact, when someone became infected, they were quarantined, couldn’t attend public events, and had to keep their faces covered. Sound familiar? Anciently, people with this disease were required to ring a bell wherever they went and shout, “unclean, unclean.” Imagine how popular President Eyring would be if he required that of everyone entering the Manwaring Center!

Parenthetically, the Lord and His prophets have told us that in our day “a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth,”^[2] and “Sadly, more than one qualifying possibility already exists for such scourges.”[3]

Spiritual diseases threaten our day, among the most obvious of which are the flattery of prominent men, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity.[4]

The world is plagued with a pandemic of social sicknesses which are taking a terrible toll, including anger, meanness, and racism. The Lord Himself described this pandemic saying, “men’s hearts shall fail them,”[5] and “the love of many shall wax cold.”[6]

There are also mental and emotional ailments including depression, anxiety, and loneliness which touch many of our lives.

Picture this with me. The prophet is coming to speak right here in the I-Center. Everyone on campus has been invited to identify a personal question or dilemma and come listening for answers. Naaman, your roommate, is hurting. Not with leprosy or COVID-19, but with another of the pains that infect our day.

With the encouragement of a faithful young woman[7] (whose faith and determination were just like yours), you, your roommates, and Naaman make your way to the prophet for help and hope and healing. Everyone prepares for the devotional; and the I-Center is filled to capacity. There’s a buzz of excitement in the air, and you’re seated with Naaman right down front. Time comes for the devotional to begin, the doors open for the speakers to enter, and everyone stands. And instead of coming himself, the prophet “sent a messenger”[8] who quickly strides directly to this very podium and says, “Go and wash in the Snake River seven times, and you’ll be healed.” That’s it. He quickly departs. The doors behind him close, and the devotional is over almost before it began. It is not at all what you or Naaman had expected to hear.

Considering an allegorical pause, the prophet’s counsel could have been, look at this brass serpent or hold on to this iron rod or put mud mixed with spittle on your eyes, or some other equally unexpected but relatively simple counsel.

President Russell M. Nelson’s Simple Counsel

President Nelson hasn’t told us to wash in the Jordan River, but he has told us,

President Nelson has taught you and me how to navigate a worldwide pandemic, how to prepare for the economic and political days ahead, and how to love one another, if we’ve been willing to listen.

There may be times when we may not understand or perhaps recognize solutions in what the prophets are teaching or asking.[13] But your great inheritance from Brigham Young University–Idaho is that you’ve learned to listen. You’ve prepared yourself to hear. And you’ve committed yourself to follow counsel. Never forget those lessons.

Conclusion

And so, today is your commencement. There are nearly 3000 of you here who memorized the pizza delivery number while you’ve studied to ace finals in calculus, world history, and biology. This incredible building is filled today with smart people. In some combination of metaphysics, advanced mathematics, and heuristics, imagine combining all the smartness and accomplishments of everyone gathered here tonight, and then consider this fact and testimony about the Savior.

“In intelligence and performance, He far surpasses the individual and the composite capacities and achievements of all who have lived, live now, and will yet live! (See Abr. 3:19.)”[14]

I add my testimony to Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s and to yours that, “We can trust, worship, and even adore Him without any reservation!”[15] And it is He who said, “whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”[16]

At the end of his story, Naaman submitted to the counsel of a dear friend, followed the prophet, washed in the Jordan, and came away clean. He then returned to Elisha and declared, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel.”[17]

God bless you to always remember your inheritance from Brigham Young University–Idaho and to spend your lives willing to learn from Heavenly Father, His Son, Jesus Christ, and Their anointed authorities so that you can bless your families, the Church, and your communities.

In the sacred, hopeful, and healing name of Him who actually does know all things, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] See President Ernest L. Wilkinson, Address to BYU Faculty, 12 September 1966 

[2] Doctrine and Covenants 5:19 

[3] Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “For I Will Lead You Along,” General Conference, April 1988 

[4] See President Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, pp. 312-313 

[5] Doctrine and Covenants 45:26; 88:91 

[6] Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:10 

[7] See 2 Kings 5:2-3 

[8] 2 Kings 5:10 

[9] President Russell M. Nelson, Christ is Risen, Faith in Him Will Move Mountains, General Conference, April 2021 

[10] President Russell M. Nelson, Christ is Risen, Faith in Him Will Move Mountains, General Conference, April 2021 

[11] President Russell M. Nelson, Let God Prevail, General Conference, April 2020 

[12] President Russell M. Nelson, Let God Prevail, General Conference, October 2020 

[13] President Harold B. Lee said, “You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may conflict with your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life … Your safety and ours depends upon whether or not we follow … Let’s keep our eye on the President of the Church.” (President Harold B. Lee, Conference Report, October 1970, p. 152–153; see also, President Ezra Taft Benson, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, BYU Address, February 26, 1980) 

[14] Elder Neal A. Maxwell, O Divine Redeemer, General Conference, October 1981 

[15] Elder Neal A. Maxwell, O Divine Redeemer, General Conference, October 1981 

[16] Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 

[17] 2 Kings 5:15