Last summer Sister Bednar and her parents and I traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois. We had long wanted to see and worship in the Nauvoo Temple, and we were able to arrange a few days in our schedule to make the trip. It was a most memorable experience for all of us.
Although I was eager to worship in the Nauvoo Temple, I was even more excited to walk down Parley Street. You recall that Parley Street led to the site of the old Nauvoo Ferry, from which the early Saints began their exodus from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley. I had visited Nauvoo on other occasions and had wondered what it might have been like to walk down Parley Street in the 1840s—leaving a temporally and a spiritually secure environment—and to look back on the city and the Nauvoo Temple before crossing the Mississippi River. Now that the temple was finished, I was anxious to have that experience.
You may also recall that on June 30, 2002, during the final dedicatory service of the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple, President Gordon B. Hinckley extended a heartfelt request that those present in the temple take time upon leaving the service to walk down Parley Street. He asked that, as they did so, they think of a young pioneer family and imagine the difficulty of leaving a comfortable home and departing for an unknown destination.
I will never forget what I felt as I walked down Parley Street last summer and looked back at the temple. My heart swelled with gratitude and my eyes filled with tears as I thought about those noble pioneers. I stood near the bank of the Mississippi River for quite some time and counted my many blessings and tried to imagine what it would have been like to walk or ferry across the river into an uncertain future.
In a similar way, today as graduates of BYU-Idaho you stand at the end of Parley Street near the banks of the river. You are saying good-bye to what has become for you a well-known and comfortable environment. You are not being persecuted or chased out of town as were the early Saints—unless, of course, you have accumulated more than 140 credit hours on your transcript! But you are stepping into new and uncharted territory. You likely feel some of the same apprehensions and concerns as did those Saints who were leaving Nauvoo. And just as they pressed forward in faith and were successful, so you will be also.
Your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will enable you to triumph in turbulent times. Your faith in the Savior will strengthen and protect you. And your faith in the Lord will empower you to step into the darkness—fully knowing and expecting that the light needed to illuminate the pathway before you will be provided after you have taken the step.
The Prophet Joseph taught that “. . . faith is the assurance which men have of the existence of things which they have not seen, and that it is also the principle of action in all intelligent beings.”[1] Thus, faith is always the beginning or origin of action.
Consider faith in Christ as a principle of action in the episode involving the children of Israel as they were transporting the ark of the covenant under the leadership of Joshua. This story of faith is found in the third chapter of the book of Joshua. The Israelites came to the River Jordan and were promised that the waters would part, or “stand upon an heap” as described in verse 13, and that they would be able to cross over on dry ground. Interestingly, the waters did not part as the children of Israel stood on the banks of the river and waited for something to happen; rather, the soles of their feet were wet before the water was parted. The faith of the Israelites was manifested in the fact that they walked into the water before it parted. They walked into the River Jordan with a future-facing assurance of things hoped for. As the Israelites moved forward, the water parted; and as they crossed over on dry land, they also were able to look back and behold the evidence of things not seen.
As you step into the future and encounter inevitable uncertainties, remember that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. As President Boyd K. Packer has taught:
"Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith, must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room for it."[2]
Many of you students will remember the counsel given specifically to you by President Hinckley in October of 2002:
"You don’t have to be a genius. You don’t have to be a straight-A student. You just have to do your very best with all the capability you have. You have to do your very best. And somehow, if you do that, God will open the way before you and the sun will shine, and your lives will be fruitful and you will accomplish great good in the world in which you take a part."[3]
I likewise testify that as you press forward with faith, God will open the way before you, and the sun will shine upon you, and you will be fruitful and accomplish great good. On your journey appropriately seek for the spiritual gifts that will assist and sustain you. Seek particularly for the gift of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I would now like to conclude on a personal note. Sister Bednar and I love you. We have so much enjoyed visiting with you on campus and in your apartments, participating with you in home evenings, talking about your challenges and opportunities, answering your questions, and becoming better acquainted. We will miss you. And we would love to hear from you; please be sure to let us know about the things that are happening in your lives.
Today you graduates become official alumni of BYU-Idaho, and you now have the responsibility to help the world better understand who we are and what we do at this institution. You have been called to assist in fulfilling the prophesies about this remarkable university. How you live, what you do, and what you become will ultimately define Brigham Young University-Idaho. May the Lord bless you as you always remember Him and serve Him with faith and with diligence and with devotion.
As our sons have left our home for college and on missions, Sister Bednar and I have shared with them the following counsel:
• Remember that you represent the Savior.
• Remember that you represent your family.
• Remember that you represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And as you now are leaving Brigham Young University-Idaho, may I add one more item to the list?
• Remember that you represent Brigham Young University-Idaho.
We love you. We pray for God’s choicest blessings to be upon you. I declare my witness that Jesus is the Christ. I further testify that the fullness of the gospel has been restored to the earth in these latter days. I so witness and testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Lecture 1, pg. 31 in The Lectures On Faith In Historical Perspective, Brigham Young University: Religious Studies Center, 1990
[2] Elder Boyd K. Packer, What is Faith?, Faith (Deseret Book Co., 1983), pg. 42
[3] Dedication of the Gordon B. Hinckley Building, 22 October 2002, Brigham Young University-Idaho